The District Chronicles

Issue date: 5/11/08 Section: Business

The whoosh of the copy machine, buzz of the fax machine and the faint tapping of fingers on computer keys are music to Calvin Johnson's ears as he conducts business at the Capital Business Center. "I work for myself," Johnson proclaims. "I control my destiny. That's very important."

Johnson and his business partner Rodney Keller have been running Capital Business Center inside the Washington Convention Center for about three years. "When you open up the Convention Center, you need those types of services because people are doing business here and they need to have access to printers," Johnson said.

Johnson and Keller started out in business together as owners of an Athlete's Foot in southeast Washington. They had five stores and worked there for 15 years before switching to Capital Business Center. "It's much cleaner, easier, and more customer-service oriented," he said. "It's more a need than a want."

In addition to the downtown Convention Center location, the two entrepreneurs opened another printing office at 1020 7th Street, NW six months ago. The new location, which is open to the community, employs local residents and offers quality products with its new equipment.

The company does business cards, banners, posters, signs, booklets, annual reports, and legal briefs. It also ships from UPS, FedEx, DHL, and the United States Postal Service.

Faxing, Internet service and graphic art design are also services that Capital Business Center offers. The 7th Street office also does laminating and book binding. For those who may not want personal mail delivered to their office or apartment address, Johnson and Keller have about 150 mailboxes available for rental.

While people in the Convention Center only care about the convenience of having the services offered inside, name recognition is a problem faced in the new location as "some people get caught up in the name rather than the services."

"The community is unaware of the services that Capital Business Center offers at the 7th Street location," Johnson said. "We're not selling trinkets; we're selling services that people need."

Johnson hopes to grow his business into a multi-million dollar company and make Capital Business Center one of the best known businesses in the metropolitan area. Johnson also boasts offering the lowest prices. "I'll beat anybody's prices because I can," he said.

Capital Business Center is open six days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. They can be contacted at 202-249-3969 or by email at info@capitalbusinesscenter.com.

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