The Paper Arts site talks about everything related to paper including stationery, scrapbooking, and DIY paper projects.

As a rule, we try not to focus TOO much attention on big name retail paper stores. However, for this post we decided to mention Papyrus Stores only because they are a good alternative to the usual mallrat (Hallmark, etc.) card companies.

Make no mistake about it, this is a fairly large paper company and you WILL find them at your local mall. But that’s actually a nice thing about Papyrus, because assuming you need some paper supplies in a hurry and the mall is the only option, there’s a chance you might be able to pick up something nice without feeling like you’re in the supermarket card aisle.

A bit ‘o history about the company, which has been around for over 50 years. It’s of course named after the papyrus plant which is said to have contributed the fiber for the earliest form of paper ever. It was started by Marcel and Margrit Schurman (notable for Schurman Fine Papers) and continues to be run today by their daughter Dominique.

Papyrus Stores are known for their presentation of paper goods as much as the actual product itself. The nice thing is that whenever I walk into a Papyrus, it feels like you’re in a museum store or something, instead of a mall store. Clean, well-lighted and with a set up similar to an art gallery, the stores also offer a fairly wide array of paper products from announcements, standard greeting cards, gift bags, stationery and journals.

If you’re mostly used to aisles and aisles of “funny” cards like at Hallmark, you probably won’t dig Papyrus as much. The card selection isn’t as huge as those type of stores, but there is definitely some nicer sets of cards for a select type of paper shopper.

One thing about Papyrus is that you can’t buy any of their paper products online, which is mildly surprising. However, if I have the time to order paper goods online, then I’d probably go with someplace different. As it is, what their stores are good for is if you need some special cards IMMEDIATELY and so you just get to the mall and grab them and go.

They have a ton of stores (over 150) in the United States and a few scattered throughout Hong Kong. I believe they also supply paper directly to larger companies and that a bulk of their business is through this rather than physical stores.

One interesting thing I saw when I visited their website recently is that they have a “special program” called the “Perfect Card Rewards Program“. This is basically a membership program ($10) where you receive benefits and discounts from Papyrus throughout the year. I’m not sure if this is recurring, though I imagine it must be.

One of the special deals they offer for Perfect Card members is pictured above which is 20% off of all Papyrus journals (until 3/31). Not too shabby of a deal. Besides the special deals, membership will always give you a “Buy 3 get 1 free” for cards, $10 off any custom printing order, a birthday offer, and invitations to their Papyrus Friends & Family discount day.