Quad/Graphics, a firm that employed 280 people in St. Cloud, acquired another firm called Brown Printing Company in May, and then announced three weeks later that it would close its printing plant in St. Cloud by the end of August.

That date has come and gone. To get a sense of the economic impact, analysts at the University of Minnesota put together estimates of the job and sales impact of the closure. According to those estimates, which came to my attention via one of the authors, Brigid Tuck, the loss of jobs will be much greater than 280:

There's also some interesting stuff in the report about the history of printing in St. Cloud and the role of manufacturing in the local economy. Quad/Graphics has been around since 1938 and printed the St. Cloud News. Manufacturing, which includes printing, employs a "much larger share" of workers in St. Cloud than elsewhere in the state.

It was another hit for the St. Cloud area, which also lost the Verso paper mill in Sartell in 2012.

But St. Cloud, overall, is doing pretty well. Of the five metro areas in the state of Minnesota, it is adding jobs the fastest. Over the past 12 months, St. Cloud has added more than 3,000 jobs, which amounts to 2.9 percent growth.

That compares with 2.3 percent growth in the Twin Cities and 0.7 percent growth in Duluth.