Printer in Atlanta for nearly 130 years to close by year's end

By Rachel Tobin Ramos

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Stevens Graphics, an Atlanta printing press founded in the 1880s to produce the Hastings Seed Catalog, is tentatively scheduled to close by the end of the year.

AT&T, the printer's current owner, plans to close two Stevens plants – one here and one in Birmingham -- because printing is not part of AT&T's "core business," said Bob Mueller, executive director of business operations for AT&T Advertising Solutions.

More than 400 jobs – 227 in Atlanta and 208 in Birmingham – will be eliminated.

Stevens prints more than 65 million Yellow Pages and White Pages directories annually.

Mueller stressed that the AT&T Real Yellow Pages would still be printed and delivered, but the company will outsource it. AT&T publishes directories in 22 states. Atlanta is the second largest market for AT&T, he said.

But Mueller said AT&T has no other printing presses. He expressed AT&T's regret about the closures.

"It's going to impact some hardworking, very dedicated associates," he said.

AT&T is still working through terms with the employees' union, he said, to possibly include "enhanced" severance pay.

Mueller said the economy played a role in the closures.

Stevens Graphics in Atlanta has been on Abernathy Boulevard in southwest Atlanta since 1926, according to the printer's Web site. Founded as The Ruralist Press, the company survived the Great Depression and multiple acquisitions, and thrived on work from major Atlanta corporations like the Coca-Cola Co. and Southern Bell Telephone.

It was acquired by BellSouth during the 1980s and 1990s, and by AT&T when it bought BellSouth in 2006.