This week CafePress opened a store (or customization lab) in Louisville, Kentucky! After 10 years of a “web only” existence – it’s exciting to sit with customers face to face.  Frankly, we just don’t get out enough, and this location allows us to get in-person customer feedback on products, pricing and design. Why Louisville? Well – It’s near the factory so we can get custom products to the store pretty quickly and service our local community.

We don’t expect to get rich from it, but we’ll learn a lot! The feedback has been great so far. If you’re in the Louisville area you should stop by – we’re in the Mall St. Matthews. You can design your own SIGG water bottle, Mug or T-shirt, pick up an order ­or just come by and say hello; we love that! Check out the photos.

Mall St. Mathews is at 5000 Shelbyville Road in Louisville, KY – click here for a map.

Today marks the XXXX anniversary of the tattoo.

I’m not sure of the exact math, but historians trace the first tattoos back to this date in Neolithic times … as in B.C. … where Young “Otzi the Iceman” had 50-some carbon tats (as far as I know, none were Ozzy Osbourne themed?).

Since then, tattoos have served many roles in history – some good, some not so good. They’ve been needled on arms, backs, ankles and anywhere else you can imagine (and some places you probably can’t imagine). They’ve been applied for everything from decorative and spiritual reasons to cosmetic and identification.

Tattoos continue to grow in popularity, although there does seem to be a backlash from some segments of today’s “conservative” population. Be that as it may, whether you sport tattoos or not, you’ll find lots of tattoo-themed designs here at CafePress. So from T-shirts and hoodies to mugs and SIGG water bottles, push the needle of self-expression with great-looking tattoo designs.

Been too darn busy playing the new Alan Wake video game 24/7 to do much of anything? No time to shower, do laundry or create that winning T-shirt design for our Design Contest? Well, (creaking sound), the door closes tomorrow (I’m trying to be mysterious here, to honor Alan), and it’s time to put down the Xbox 360 controller and pick up your mouse. You only have until June 2 to enter your design.

You’ll find quite a few design categories to enter (including the book cover for Alan Wake’s latest novel, Departure, which the game kinda-sorta revolves around). Naturally, there are great prizes for the winners (as well as accolades from game fanatics everywhere).

Just can’t put the controller down to design something? No problem. You’ll still find lots of Alan Wake designs to choose from. Including T-shirts, so won’t have to worry about doing laundry until you beat the game.