Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Factory to end public tours

A time-honored rite of passage for Petaluma school kids will soon go the way of playgrounds made of metal and rotary telephones, as Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Factory will end its tradition of offering public tours through the Petaluma-based facility. Also to be shuttered is the retail store where visitors have stood in awe of the thousands of shiny adhesive emblems, animals and slogans printed on ribbon-like strips of paper. According to Jason and Andrea Grossman, the owners and founders of the 40-year-old operation, the final day of tours and on-site sticker sales will be Wednesday, July 31.

The reasons for this end-of-an-era decision, say the Grossman’s on the company’s website and Facebook page, are a combination of rising insurance costs and an agreement made with Resource Label Group, to which Mrs. Grossman’s label division, Paragon Label, was sold last year. Per that agreement, the two companies will share the sprawling facility on Cypress Dr., beginning Aug. 1.

For the last 20 years, daily tours of the factory have been a primary field trip activity for local schools, and a major draw for visitors to Petaluma. The factory itself will continue to manufacture its bright and whimsical designs, and will go on selling them through via the website. According to the company’s site, all factory tours are currently booked up through July 29, but the store will remain open until the end of that day for those wanting to buy stickers in person, one last time.

Here is the full text of the statement posted last night on the Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Factory website:

Dear Sticker Friends,

For the past 20 years plus, Mrs. Grossman’s has been blessed to have hundreds of thousands of people tour our little company to see how stickers are made. We are celebrating our 40th anniversary and remain one of the few companies that still prints stickers in the United States. Back in August of 2018, Mrs. Grossman’s sold our label division (Paragon Label) to a great company, Resource Label Group. Upon the sale it was agreed that RLG and MGPC needed to share the building, but separate the operations. This was slated to occur August 1st 2019. Because of this large change along with insurance issues, we have been faced with the need to shut down both the tours and our retail store.

July 31 will be the last day for both operations.

MGPC will be in the same location and will continue business as usual in all other areas. We will only be accepting and fulfilling retail orders through our website from August 1st on. Look for the website to become much more exciting with lots of cool offers and rare items. We are going to place a lot of attention and effort on the site. We will also be fulfilling our rapidly expanding Sticker Club at our present location. Do check our website from time to time, or even better yet, give us your email address and we will give you updates on any warehouse sales or other adventures we have in the future. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for sticker news, pics and art, previews of new stickers and products, fun giveaways and more!

It has been a wonderful 20 years having you come to “our house” and experience the magic of printing stickers. We appreciate all of the support and love we have received over the years and will miss having you at our facility.

Love,

Jason and Andrea