Another Awesome Store Closing Its Door

Papyrus, a mall staple that's best known for selling stationery and upscale greeting cards, is going out of business. Schurman Fine Paper, which owns the brand, is closing all 254 of its US and Canada stores.

The word Papyrus (pah·pie·rus) comes from the earliest form of paper crafted from the papyrus plant. PAPYRUS was founded in the family kitchen of Marcel and Margrit Schurman in 1950. Inspired by a love of fine art, they had a vision for products of uncompromising quality which provided the starting point from which genuine personal connections are made. They presented their products in an inviting gallery setting to encourage engagement with the products and with a friendly helpful staff.

I had a feeling the store was in trouble on two separate visits around Christmas time. The back half was strewn with boxes of specialty themed cards, all on sale for 10￠each. I got so excited I think I had heart palpitations. Wow. If anyone knows these cards, they are far superior than any other manufacturer and were priced accordingly. It was not unheard of to spend $10+ for a special note.

To give you some indication of the deal I got towards the 'end', when I left the store it was with a 4 foot long receipt. The sub total was $14.20 while the discount was $812.85. That is just crazy, right? Woohoo!

To explain the demise, the company blamed an overexpansion of stores, the downturn in brick-and-mortar shopping and its inability to fully recover from the 2008 financial crisis. It was also stated that shoppers are also increasingly sending emails or texts instead of buying cards (which is a correspondence sacrilege).

For my economical side, Papyrus was just too costly for everyday/occasion writing. It wasn't just the cost of the cards but the postage to mail them. All the spectacular decorations made them too thick and heavy which caused a need for several extra ounce postage stamps and hand-canceling fees (which makes one have to go into the post office itself). They were also odd sized. I recently sent a square card that was just ¼" too wide for the post office standards. That, along with the other previously named issues, made it $1.30 to mail. I guess if you're willing to pay $10 for a card, you don't care what the cost of the postage. I mail so many, I actually do care about all those particulars. Plus part of the fun is seeing how much treasure can be mailed just with one FOREVER stamp.

I'm sorry to see this favorite Mall store go. Whenever I passed by, I was drawn in. I appreciated the creativity and the encouragement it offered to correspond more (and in great style). I'm sad. It's just another of my favorite places soon to be long gone... but not forgotten. Okay, I'm done lamenting. I think I'll go and get an Orange Julius...

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