Mostad Publications Ltd started in the mid-60's with the SURREY SHOPPER. There was no office back then - it was run from Fred Mostad's home. The Shoppers were printed at Horizon Press in North Vancouver, then later at Web Press in Lake City on Web Leader press Units. In 1973, Fred and Graham Mostad (Father and Son) with two other businessmen bought a building on Bentley Road in Surrey, BC as well as 4 Web Leader press units and started Surrey Centre Publishing Ltd. - mainly to print the Shoppers. The partnership only lasted about 2 years, then Fred and Graham bought out the other 2 partners.

Graham did all of the typesetting - he had is own shop prior to 1973 doing paste-ups and graphics for the Shoppers mainly, but also for other outside clients. After the start-up of Surrey Centre, he moved the operation into the printing shop.

The Shoppers were one of the very first advertising flyers produced - there were no distribution systems in place at that time, i.e.no insertions into community newspapers. There really were no flyers to speak of back then either. The Shoppers were distributed through the Post Office - Mostad has permit #2 at the Surrey Main Post Office for unaddressed admail. There was also not much competition for ad space in the early years but this all changed with the growth of community newspapers in the area and the need to augment their income with advertising.

Up until 1978, when both Graham and Fred passed away, the main job at Surrey Centre Publishing was the Shoppers - there were a few other editions added, i.e. the Super Shopper, and a few others such as the North Delta Shopper, the Langley Shopper, etc. Mostad even trademarked the "Surrey Shopper" name.

1978 - 1984 was when Mostad saw the possibilities and started going after flyer accounts, as well as streamlining the Shoppers. Mostad amalgamated Surrey Centre and Mostad into Mostad Publications (1980) Ltd. We developed, or were successful in bidding on flyer accounts, and the business started to grow.

It was also during this time that Harriet Green (then Illes) started assuming a management role in the company. Harriet started out as a salesperson for the Shoppers and it soon became evident that her drive, work-ethic and leadership abilities would serve as an asset to the company. As a result she and Merle Mostad (Graham Mostad's widow) formed a partnership that would stand the test of time with Harriet serving as the figurative and practical leader of Mostad.

Around 1990, to raise investment capital, Mostad sold a portion of the shares to Lower Mainland Publishing group. Throughout the years, this shareholder morphed into Hollinger.

One year later, in 1991 we moved into our current address at 13447-77th Ave in Surrey BC. The Shoppers by this time were just a bi-weekly print run, which took a lot of work to set-up and administration. By 1995 we figured they were costing us more to produce, with negligible profits, and we decided to shut them down and focus on the commercial flyer business.

In the 1990's Mostad continued to grow and expand with the purchase of more equipment and the switch from cold-set printing to heat-set. (This included a state of the art pollution control system - this was an unusual move for the time but always part of Mostad's strong commitment to the environment.) This greatly improved the quality difference of the finished product and enabled Mostad to further satisfy its current customers as well as grow its customer base considerably.

As of just recently Merle and Harriet repurchased the shares from Hollinger and are actively making plans for the future of the organization.