July 25, 2011

Celebrating 9 Years of Creativity!

 
I can't believe it, but Paper Pals will be celebrating its 9 year anniversary this August!   It has been a labor of love, creativity and a lot of hard work; but I am so happy and thankful for this amazing little scrapbook store.  I am also so thankful to all of you for being not only my loyal customers, but my friends and supporters.   Even though I am the sole owner and proprietor; I have never felt like I was doing this all alone....thanks to our customers, employees, design team, good friends and my family!

 
Paper Pals started out in a cute little classroom located in the Gladish Community Center nine years ago. I painted it our signature green and had an art student hand paint our "words" on the walls. Back then we were just a scrapbook and stamp studio where you could come in and scrapbook and/or stamp. I also held classes and crops several times a week. I had a 1 year lease and started to bring in a few items to sell; Bazzill cardstock, adhesive, stamps and some inks. Towards the end of our first year I started to search for a more visible retail space and found a really cute spot in the Square One building just down the street (literally) from Gladish.

I got out the green paint, had our words painted for a second time and moved into our new space. I loved being in downtown Pullman, it was fun to be right in the heart of the downtown area.  The shop was only 800 square feet, but we filled it to the brim with lots of goodies and even had room for classes! Paper Pals stayed at this spot for 2 years until we outgrew it!




Our 3rd and final Pullman location is our current space on Grand Avenue next to Dairy Queen. Paper Pals has been here since they put up the building 6 years ago and I don't have any plans to move the Pullman store again! Our store continues to teach amazing classes, workshops and participates in community events like WSU Up all night and Mom's Weekend. I have also added a Custom Wedding Invitation business to our store and have helped hundreds of couples with their wedding invitations! 


Our 9 year anniversary celebration is the 20th of August from 10am-10pm.  We will be giving away a Cricut Imagine and having a 20% off store wide sale!  We will also have cake, punch, and a $5.00 crop from 10am-10pm.  Hope you can all stop by to help us celebrate!  



Please let me know how my store is doing and if I, as the owner, can make any changes to better my store.  I want to hear from you!  Just email or call me.  Your input and advice will be taken with an open heart and greatly appreciated!  Email me at karen@paper-pals.com or call and leave a message for me to talk with you personally at 509-332-0407.  As some of you may or may not know, my son had a very serious injury this March and I have not been able to be in the store as much as I would like.  He is recovering, but we still have a long road ahead of us. The store has also had some recent staff changes.  I am at the store on some Fridays, and every Saturday and Sunday.  So please stop in or call to chat with me for any reason.  Also - stop in and say hi to Kristi and Wraylee our new and fabulous employees!
  Thanks so much!
  Karen, Owner of Paper Pals
Pin It!

4 comments:

Kristi Wildung said...

I think you have always done an amazing job with the store Karen and I feel privileged to have such a gem in our community! Keep up the good work :)

Laura Dunning said...

And you are a Gem to the store too Kristi :) See you this week. I am taking classes with Deb.

Malinda said...

Happy Anniversary to your store Karen. I believe that your success is due to you being creative, wonderful woman that you are. Love your store and love your classes.

Linda's Crafty World said...

I love your little store and wish you were closer to Spokane. Will see you at the anniversary. Good luck in the future and God Bless You