Lisa Gorden Romero
At the age of 5 my destiny was magically revealed when I wished my father a good day at work
saying “I hope you sell a lot of copy machines daddy!” Yes he sold copy machines for a living.
I guess the copy business has always been a part of my life in one aspect or another. While
taking a break from Ramapo College in New Jersey my friend Debra and I supported our
journey across the country by selling copy machine supplies. Call it fate when we both arrived in
Taos Halloween night 1979. Soon realizing there was no copy shop to be seen I pondered,
could I make one of these work in Taos? I knew enough about the industry, heck why not; if it
didn’t work out I’d be a waitress, open a bank, host a fate night TV show, do stand up comedy or
something of my own. So why not give the copy business a try, I had nothing to lose except the
agony of defeat and the initial investment money borrowed ((begged for)) from my parents. As
they say in order to win or lose you must play the game. But I was young then and risk taking
was very easy, and the rest is history.
Copy Queen opened its doors on September 30, 1980 (San Geronimo Day) the biggest focal
holiday in Taos, and of course not a single customer because of it. This Gringo girl had no idea,
and spent the rest of the day in tears wondering if I had done a foolish thing. It’s amazing 25
years later and here we are still serving the local community. Any how my fate was sealed; a
whim is now a long term reality. Here I am 25 years later offering the latest, fastest, optimum
quality copies, along with the most current state of the art technology.