Local Business Spotlight: Hartford Prints! Co-Founder Rory Gale Unfolds Gift Shop’s History and Love of Hartford

Nick Cimillo ’26

Features Editor

Walking along Pratt Street in downtown Hartford, it’s hard to miss a store like Hartford Prints!. Its facade, done up with bright blue trimming and a vivid red logo consisting of a heart and an exclamation point, is quick to catch the eye. A look through the expansive arched windows, donned with colorful illustrations, reveals shelves lined with cards for every occasion, stickers, mugs, stationery and various curios. But Hartford Prints! was not always a gift shop. The Tripod met with Rory Gale, the shop’s co-founder and current manager, to discuss its founding, recent and upcoming developments, and her pride in the shop’s place “in the heart of Hartford.”

 Born and raised in Hartford’s west end, Gale thought she’d never return to Connecticut when she started college. “I went to school in Philadelphia,” she began, “I was studying communications — broadcasting and telecommunications — and then after I graduated, I moved to New York City.” Her work experience in New York, specifically at a small family-run production company, supplied Gale with “insight into how to be an entrepreneur… I realized that I really like the independence of being your own boss.” And sure enough, an opportunity would come to put this newfound entrepreneurship to work. 

In 2009, Hartford Prints! was founded by Gale’s sister, Addy. In its early years, it operated as a nonprofit that hired Hartford High School students, teaching them how to operate and make letterpress artwork with an old printing press. “They were learning a skill, getting employed and then making artwork,” Rory said. “That was funded through grant money; so in 2012, when the grant money was running out… it kind of came together: [the idea that] maybe we should go into business together, and take Hartford Prints! into a more commercial business. And so I joined with my sister and did what I never thought I would do: move back to Hartford.” The art of printmaking was carried over into the store’s new era by creating custom prints for customers.

The business moved from a studio space in Real Art Ways on Arbor Street to its current Pratt Street location in 2013, and construction is currently underway to expand the store into the retail space next door. And in 2022, a second location launched: a kiosk at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, the opening of which marked a transition from making custom print orders to “being the most incredible gift store we could be.”

The business has also made significant strides with its online presence, amassing over 50,000 followers on Instagram. “Because of my background in production and video, I’ve always been drawn to marketing,” Gale said. “We were really able to grow a lot during the pandemic; it took everything shutting down… to really have the time to focus on marketing and growing our audience.”

In her time managing Hartford Prints!, Gale has also learned how to appreciate the business’s, and her own, hometown. “Being from the city,” she said, “there tends to be a lot of negativity around Hartford, and when you grow up here, it’s confusing because you love where you live, but you always hear those negative things about the city.” Since returning to operate Hartford Prints!, though, “I’ve never looked back. I absolutely love being able to be back in Hartford and hav[ing had the chance to] take Hartford Prints! in a totally different direction.”