Paper Source

If there's one thing I've been searching for for what seems like forever, it's a stationery store, so imagine how excited I was when I found out there was a new stationery store close to my town!!!

It was called Paper Source and seemed to be a really amazing store, with more than everything and anything one could possibly need for both lettering writing as well as crafts. I looked up its address and was a little confused since it said it was in the mall, yet I'd never seen it before, but I figured it was probably just because it was new and decided to go explore it and hopefully have a new store to frequent. However, I couldn't find it at all and when I looked up the street view of the store, it showed the back of the outside of a store and the parking lot.... So I did the only thing I could think of: I turned the gps on on my phone and followed it on foot lol 😂😂😂 

As dumb as it felt, it led me to the store AND I found out there's a second half of the mall hidden on the outside behind the inside half!!!

It looked really welcoming on the outside!

I went in and that's when things started going a little downhill. Despite there being literally only one other customer in the store, the employees didn't greet or even acknowledge me. But I figured that they were probably busy with the other customer or doing something right then and would probably help me a little later--this sadly, wasn't the case. 

I had come to the store specifically for coloured envelopes, since I love sending letters and wanted something more unique and cute than normal, bland, white envelopes. So when I saw the wall of greeting cards and envelopes as soon as I walked in, I was so excited and quickly made a bee-line for that wall! However, while I was looking at the few colours they had, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, one of the employees watching me behind a display, just standing there and not saying anything. I felt a little uncomfortable, but tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, and choose two beautiful colours: teal and hot pink. 

I then went looking around the store and noticed their little section of children's books and that's when I saw it: a giant wall of nothing but envelopes in every single colour imaginable!!! Obviously, I HAD to go over there and see what they had, and wow! Not only did they have every single colour and shade, they also had every single size one could possibly want!! I was really excited and feeling happy I came, when things took yet another uncomfortable turn for the worst: as I was looking at the different blue envelopes and trying to decide which colour and size I would get, both of the employees who had so far ignored me, appeared on both sides of me, demanding to know what I needed and if I needed any help. It was on then, that I noticed the envelopes were right next to the Employees Only section of the store and felt a little sick, I couldn't help but feel then (as I do now) that they thought I was possibly trying to steal something.

Not even half of the selection of envelopes

I told them I was looking for an envelope for letter writing, and that I fold my letters into cute designs, and they gave me a suggestion for which size to use, and then left to go do something elsewhere. 

They quickly went back to ignoring me lol. It was a little awkward since there was no one else in the store at this point, but it made it easy to take good pictures! 

There was a big wall of stamps, ink pads and even diy ink pad kits, where you could make your own personal stamp! I even found a set of butterfly stamps, super cool since butterflies are deaf just like my future husband :) Unfortunately, the set of butterfly stamps were almost $20 and I'm not about that life :P I ended up picking a stamp that said "Special Delivery" and had a heart on it, because it was too cute to pass up and was also reasonably priced!

view (mostly) view of the stamp wall

I also noticed a huge selection of stickers, and while most were crazy in terms of price range, there were a few that were okish in price range, and I ended up leaving with a set of Pusheen stamps :3 

The next section that caught my attention was a huge section of paper that had dozens of beautiful and quirky patterns that were hanging on big rollers. I had no idea what they could be for, but couldn't help but admire all of the different patterns, and laugh at the silly ones, such as these bunny mermaids: 

Bunny mermaid cuteness! XD

way too high!

It wasn't til I saw an envelope hanging with some of the paper inside it that it occurred to me that this was paper for lining the inside of the envelopes! Just to be sure though, I asked one of the employees and... she didn't say anything at first til she just really quickly looked up at me and said, "I guess some use it for that" and went back to whatever she was doing on her computer :/ I understand she probably had daily upkeep to do to keep the store running, but it really felt like I was bothering her for asking what the paper was for. Considering there was still no other customers in the store, I felt like it was a little rude and awkward. However, the paper was REALLY beautiful and I'd

always admired lined envelopes, so I decided to pick a pattern out for myself and try it out, but here came another problem: the pattern I wanted was a little too high for me to comfortably get. I tried to get it myself, but was worried about accidentally ripping it and/or the display to fall on me, but despite being in full view of both employees, neither offered me any help and after the less than warm treatment I'd received, I didn't feel comfortable in asking for help. After what seemed like forever, I was finally able to get the paper I wanted down. 

When I went to pay, I inquired as to how to line the envelopes with the paper I was buying (a beautiful pattern of light blue water with koi fish swimming around). The cashier called the other worker over and asked her to show me how to line paper, but when she went to get an envelope stencil (?) for the same size as the ones I was buying, the cashier snapped that it didn't matter if she showed me with the wrong size and that they were too busy for her to go to back and get one real quick :/ Given everything else, this just rubbed me the wrong way and really annoyed me. The other worker helped show me how to make an envelope liner and then showed me everything I needed to buy to make the liners, and then rung me up. 

While the products were very cute and beautiful and there was a huge selection, it definitely made me feel a little annoyed that they ignored me til it came to showing me what I needed to spend money on. The other thing that was cumbersome was they only had giant bags for your items, so despite getting really small items, I had to carry them around in a bag bigger than the big ones Yankee Candle uses. 

I was however, quite happy after I went home and happily made my own liners just like I'd been shown how to do.The single page of paper was enough to make eleven liners, enough for a full pack of envelopes with an extra one left over. As you can see below, they have a very professional look and I don't think anyone will be able to tell they were diy!

Overall, the experience wasn't the best, it was awkward and more than a little uncomfortable, but the products selection was really amazing and the products themselves were of very high quality. Perhaps the employees' standoffish attitude was just because the store is new and they're a little shy or unsure of how to interact with customers. I'll definitely be coming back and I hope they'll be a little more friendly, iA.