I have searched high and low for the best print shop for my artwork, and I can tell you that Color…read more1 is, hands down, the ABSOLUTE BEST.
1) The prints are color true; and actually, this is the only shop - local or chain - that has EVER met this most vital criterea. As a professional artist, I need prints which will be exact duplicates of what is hanging on a gallery wall. While I hate putting anyone else down, I feel like this is too important to tiptoe around. If my computer file of my work is exact enough in color, contrast, and resolution to use on the cds I send to galleries to consider for shows, that file simply cannot be some ink-bled, dark blob (as is often the case everywhere else); it needs to run true in every way...and Color 1 has got this covered, regardless of the medium of the original, how many colors, or how complex the variation.
2) They have three beautiful paper choices for your work, many different ways to format depending on one's needs (border, no border, etc, and they're happy to help you through whatever you might need), and an extremely professional end product (board or foamcore backing and plastic bag come with the print, and I can't tell you how much stress that relieves for someone like me, who tended to shy away from prints because, before Color 1, they seemed to need so much extra work before they are ready to be sold in a gallery setting).
3) ACTUALLY AFFORDABLE. I cannot stress this enough. As an artist with no steady form of income and very little money more often than not, just knowing that I could run to Color 1 with what little I have in my pocket and receive a beautiful, absolutely professional print to then resell ... well, let's just say that I am never afraid or nervous to spend even my very last cent here because I know that these prints won't let me down.
4) Carl Cooper, the man who owns and runs the shop, is really, really wonderful. Sometimes I go in there not just with my very last money, but also on my very last leg, at my very last minute (ex: the day before a show opening), and in all states of artistic disarray. Carl has always been so patient, kind, and knowledgeable regarding all my strange questions and requests, and I can't tell you how important it is for me to know that this shop is really a place I feel comfortable running to - even without makeup on and a paintbrush holding up my hair! Besides, he remembers me from past visits, remembers my orders, and is exactly what I had always dreamed that a friendly, small shop owner would be in a small town...except that, wonderfully enough, he happens to be located downtown in a rather big city.
5) Thankfully for me, he's located mere blocks away from where I live and work, but this shop is less than a block away from the Pioneer Square Transit Tunnel stop, and, if you're driving, there's usually street parking nearby, or, worst case scenario, you might have to pay a few bucks for an hour in a paid lot. Word to the wise, avoid Seahawks and Sounders game days/nights, and you'll be fine...but then again, honestly, even adding in gas and parking expenses, Color 1 will still total less than a print at even the cheapest of good-ish quality chain printers-even Costco!
My pro-tip is this: they're open M-F, and I know it's tempting to print elsewhere on the weekend, especially if there's an impending sale, show, or etc...but, and this has been a hard lesson to learn, it is not worth it. The last time I made the mistake of not waiting until Monday, I literally went to two different shops and spent a ton of money that I really didn't have in order to get two orders that I couldn't/would never use professionally. If you're looking for something right then and there for a sale/order and it's the weekend, just tell your customer that it won't be ready until Monday; not waiting in order to print at Color 1 is a mistake I will never make again.
TL;DR - no need to look any further for greatness, Color 1 is above and beyond everything you could've expected or will ever need in every way.
