It started back in 1979 when two business associates—one a recent MBA and the other an attorney—realized that the Washington-area market was ready for a copy service that would provide superior quality and service with a previously unheard-of level of professionalism. They were right. Copy General grew from a single location in the basement of a Georgetown office building to become the largest chain of copy shops in Washington.

As the era of the walk-in copy shop began to end, Copy General focused more and more on its headquarters and digital print production center adjacent to Dulles International Airport. The company scaled back its domestic retail shops as the size and scope of the Dulles operation continued to grow.

At the same time, starting in 1991, Copy General joined in a venture to open copy centers in Central Europe. Now there are about 50 facilities outside of the U.S. Today, customers can find Copy General retail centers in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia in addition to its production centers and operations at customer locations.

Copy General leads the way into the Internet age with the introduction of Brightdoc®, our proprietary web-to-print system that lets our clients have their own on-line bookstores with none of the cost of inventory. Hundreds of thousands of books, greeting cards, training manuals and more have been printed and delivered without our clients ever having to spend a penny for production. In fact, we send them checks every month.

Copy General leads the way again with the installation of the region’s first Xerox iGen3 digital press—the first true production dry ink press. At 110 pages per minute and a maximum sheet size of 14.33″ × 20.5″, the iGen set new speed quality standards for digital printing.

Copy General takes another innovative leap forward with the first U.S. installation (second in the world) of the Xerox iGen 150. In addition to its faster speed (150 ppm) and larger sheet size (14.33″ × 26″), the iGen 150 provided superior quality over previous generations.

With the installation of the Océ/Canon VarioPrint i300, Copy General maintains its technological leadership position. This 300 page-per-minute, eco-friendly, inkjet press produces high-quality, full-color pages at amazing speeds and highly competitive costs. In the bindery area, new spot UV, die cutting, foil stamping and more allows the company to produce outstanding, eye-catching documents.

Copy General celebrates its 40th Anniversary!

We upgrade our inkjet technology to the very best, the VarioPrint iX-3200.  It’s faster, has higher resolution, even better quality and a wider range of printing substrates from which to choose, including coated text and cover stocks.