Don’t stop the presses!
New Yorkers rally to keep traditional Chinatown print shop
BY MAX PARROTT
A binder of old business
cards in Desmond Yeoh’s
basement print shop
brims with New York’s past.
The cards’ elegant designs advertise
a Chinatown aquarium
shop named Sammy, a musclebound
bodyguard and black belt
for hire, a Midtown emporium
of imported video games and
anime and even an old Bowery
strip joint.
It’s one of a sprawling number
of artifacts that Yeoh has
held onto over the 25 years that
he and his wife have run Y.H.
Printing Inc., a shop in Chinatown,
which represents one of
the last of its era.
Keeping the Y.H. Printing
presses running through the
pandemic hasn’t been easy.
Financial woes ranging from
accountant fees to rent and repairs,
in combination with other
Covid-related business pressures,
have threatened to close
Yeoh’s shop.
Luckily for Yeoh, Elise
Wilken, a young neighbor who
BUSINESS
A fi le photo of the Y.H,. Printing shop in Chinatown.
befriended him and his wife,
created a GoFundMe this week
that raised over $30,000 to alleviate
fi nancial pressures and
keep the shop functioning for
the time being.
Yeoh says that his fi ght isn’t
over. To continue operating in
the long-term as one of the last
letterpress printing shops in the
city, he’s going to have to attract
PROVIDED
more clients. But he’s motivated
to do what it takes out of a
devotion to his craft.
He said he wants “to make
sure that the youngsters get a
chance to learn this printing and
keep on doing it.”
Yeoh’s skillset involves operating
a set of analog print
machines – some of which are
around 80 years old. The presses
that he’s collected over the years
allow him to produce event invitations,
calendars, business
cards and paper menus with a
unique, old-fashioned touch.
A substantial portion of
Yeoh’s clientele are Chinese
restaurants, which order twoand
three tone disposable paper
menus. And not just in New
York City either. Helen, who
handles the shop’s Chinesespeaking
market, has established
contracts for restaurants as far
as Ohio and Indiana. But the
number of commissions took a
hit during the pandemic as businesses
that the shop previously
worked with had to close.
Yeoh was born in Malaysia,
where he attended a Catholic
trade school that taught him
the art of printmaking. He married
Helen as a teenager, and
the couple moved to New York
in 1989 with the dream of a
better life.
After working at various
printing companies for several
years, the Yeohs set up their
own business in 1996 and were
eventually able to open a storefront
PHOTO BY MAX PARROTT
shop at 2 Orchard Street,
in addition to two other shop locations,
including the basement
he now operates out of.
But in the 2010s Yeoh’s Orchard
Street rent shot up from
the original $700 lease, fi rst to
$4,000 and then to $9,000, Helen
said. In response, Yeoh had
to downsize the business to his
current basement workshop on
23 Essex St..
With downscaling, the hours
have increased. At the business’s
height, Yeoh had seven employees.
In its present incarnation,
Yeoh and his wife take on all
the responsibilities of running
the shop. Often he’ll be working
round the clock from the morning
until 2 or 3 a.m. to fi nish
an order.
In response to the GoFund-
Me support, Yeoh expressed
that he was humbled and grateful
for all those who donated,
and to Wilken, whom he and
Helen referred to as their
surrogate daughter.
“I help people, people help
in return, you know? You never
know where it will come
from,” Yeoh said.
To visit the GoFundMe, click
bit.ly/3AHfL5V.
24 February 3, 2022 Schneps Media