Manual printing business marks Lincoln bank’s fourth pop-up location

Lindsay Griepenstroh prints puns onto greeting cards in her garage on a machine that weighs over a ton.

Griepenstroh is the owner of Truth Papers and uses a century-old antique letterpress. She brought a smaller version to her new pop-up shop inside of Union Bank & Trust’s downtown lobby. All of the stationery includes Griepenstroh’s designs.

Truth Papers owner Lindsay Griepenstroh holds cards she designed and pressed herself at her pop-up shop located in the lobby of the downtown Union Bank & Trust location on Wednesday.

KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star

“I have a background in graphic design and I’ve always just had an obsession with paper and greeting cards, stationery,” Griepenstrosh said. “Shopping for school was always my favorite time of the year.”

For the holiday season, Griepenstroh will be at Union Bank Place as a pop-up shop. The bank regularly hosts pop-ups at its large downtown branch to support some of their customers with small businesses. Griepenstroh sells greeting cards, stickers, notepads and prints.

Truth Paper’s stationery is printed using a letterpress. During the process, ink is spread onto a plate using rollers before it is pressed onto a piece of paper in a pattern determined by a plastic stencil.

Truth Papers, 10.16 — Truth Papers owner Lindsay Griepenstroh uses a small printing press to create a handmade card she designed at her pop-up shop located in the lobby of the downtown Union Bank & Trust location.

KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star

Griepenstroh’s designs include a description of the anatomy of a Nebraska football fan, puns and birthday cards featuring characters like snails and gnomes.

Printing was originally just a hobby for Griepenstroh, but during the pandemic she couldn’t do her normal job making handouts for a church.

“You couldn’t hand things out,” Griepenstroh said. “And so I pretty much didn’t work there. And so I took that opportunity to put a lot of time into Truth Papers and see what I could do with it.”

Truth Papers can be found at different craft shows, on Etsy and at the bank from 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday.

The bank has hosted several other companies through its pop-up program, which is open to small-business owners who are customers of the bank. Pop-up residents have the space for a four-month period, Union Bank Vice President of Small Business Stephanie Dinger said. The bank along with the graduates of the pop-up celebrated the one-year anniversary of the initiative in September, she said.

“So most banks highlight commercial customers that are large customers, but one of the pieces that we have really focused on is giving resources to the small businesses, or those starting,” Dinger said.

She said the pop-up is a competitive advantage for the bank and showcases what makes it different. Both a coffee shop and the pop-up space are in front of the bank’s tellers on the ground level of the downtown branch.

“We really are reinvesting back to our customers, and it’s fun for customers to come into this building and have a coffee shop, a place they can go buy something,” Dinger said. “This building is full of people who work here and it’s really neat for them.”

At first, Trust Papers’ stint in the pop-up location was delayed because Griepenstroh had jury duty, but now the business is fully set up and a good place to shop for unique holiday gifts, Dinger said.

“It’s true entrepreneurship, from the moment you started in your time, it’s been unique,” Dinger said of Griepenstroh. “You had jury duty and it’s just really cool to see entrepreneurship happening right inside our building.”

The latest inflation report has shown that consumer price growth in the US has slowed to its lowest pace since February 2021, the first month President Joe Biden took office. The data indicates an economy where the cost of goods and services is decreasing, employment opportunities are stabilizing, and interest rates are easing. This lower level of inflation is a full-circle moment for the Biden administration, as America has had to adjust to a 21% increased cost of living since early 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2024, the annual inflation rate was 2.4%, which was 0.1% higher than predicted, but less than August’s 2.5%. This slight decrease indicates an easing of inflationary pressure. The rising cost of living is a major concern for voters in the upcoming presidential election, with food and housing being the most impacted by the initial surge in prices. Former President Donald Trump has accused his 2024 opponent, VP Kamala Harris, of being connected to Biden administration spending which he claims caused the surge in inflation. Economists argue that supply chain disruptions and shifts in consumer behavior have played as much, if not more, of a role in the inflation surge than Biden’s policies. Many economists have disputed Trump’s promises to boost jobs and raise salaries if elected, as he has not proposed a plan detailing how he will achieve this. Harris’ economic proposals have also faced skepticism from experts, as they feel her promises to cap rent and grocery price increases are unlikely to be approved by lawmakers. Questions about the economy’s future persist, as the National Federation of Independent Business reported that uncertainty among small business owners has reached a record high. “Although some hope lies ahead in the holiday sales season, many Main Street owners are left questioning whether future business conditions will improve,” said Bill Dunkelberg, NFIB economist. Dunkelberg said that “uncertainty makes owners hesitant to invest in capital spending and inventory,” as inflation and business running costs put pressure on business owners.

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