Paper Mill Studio, the longtime stationery and card store in West Akron, has a new owner who sees a bright future in the business that may seem so yesterday.
“I have a stationery problem,” Paper Mill’s new owner Erin Leslie, 40, said.
The “problem” that Erin was referring to isn’t the risk of taking over the 37-year-old shop. Rather, she really, really loves stationery — from mass-produced thank-you notes, to custom invitations.
Leslie’s love of stationery, combined with a desire to build on her graphic-design work, piqued her interest in the store on Sand Run Road, a little north of West Market Street.
She took over Feb. 1, with longtime owner Anne Morgan, 79, helping out through last month.
Leslie and Morgan, as well as others in retail stationery, say there’s still demand for the shop’s service and offerings.
A big chunk of the business is personalized invitations for weddings, showers, holiday parties, baptisms and other social occasions.
The customer selects the design — using samples — and then the invitation is printed with the customer’s own information. Much of the printing is done in-house.
“In here, you can come in and touch, you can feel” Leslie said. “We’ve all had those times when we don’t get what we really wanted,” ordering online.
She hasn’t made big changes yet, wanting to see what customers want. But she has plans.
“We’re going to treat it a little more like a boutique,” Leslie said, by offering more gift items. “I’d like it be a bricks-and-mortar Etsy store,” she said, referring to the website that helps artists and crafters to sell their wares online.
Leslie also plans to create her own stationery designs — “for brides, for people throwing parties, even for people who need business cards, letterheads, logos, business cards.”
She said her graphic design business, called Elle Creative Studio, and the shop remain separate businesses, “but they interweave.”
Leslie also is planning to freshen up the place, painting the sage-green walls white. Shelves are now crowded with items. She plans to change the store layout and reorganize stock, giving the shop a more streamlined look. She also plans on hiring a third employee.
Friend of the family
The West Akron resident had an inside track to buying the business; she’s friends with Anne Morgan’s daughter, Anne Denne.
About a year ago, Leslie casually mentioned to Denne: “If your mom’s ever ready to sell that shop — or thinking about selling — let me know.”
Others had earlier inquired about buying the place.
“But Anne didn’t feel like it was the right fit, or the right person,” Leslie said.
Leslie said her love of designing, as well as her appreciation for dealing with customers in person, helped win Morgan over.
“I have graphic-design clients whom I’ve never met,” Leslie said. Working with customers at the shop “is a nicer way to do it, more hands-on.”
Patti Stracher, vice president of the annual National Stationery Show, which will run May 15-18 in New York City, said Leslie is taking the right tack, expanding the store’s offerings in an effort to become more sustainable.
Such shops, Stracher said, “are evolving their businesses to bring in more lifestyle gifts or items handmade by artisans in their community.”
Stracher said the stores can capitalize on a desire for authenticity.
“The millennials generally crave authenticity,” she said. “They want a personal experience. They want to do things and buy things and share things that reflect their own personal style and values and aesthetics. They are very turned on by paper.”
The Paper Mill’s first owner was Nancy Schwab Hamlin, who started it in 1979. Hamlin sold the business two years later to Morgan and two friends, Evelyn Dannemiller and Joan Johnson. At the time, Morgan, a mother of eight, had just been widowed unexpectedly. There were 20 children among the three women.
“We only worked a day-and-a-half [each week] when we first started,” Morgan said. “We’d trade off.”
Johnson and Dannemiller retired from the business years ago; Dannemiller died in 2004.
Morgan likely sees herself in young Leslie, said the new store owner.
“She was right about the same age,” Leslie said, “when she took over the store.”
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.