Please stop whatever you are doing to give three cheers to Kristina Burkey. Not only is she the founding proprietress of the fabulous Calliope Paperie of Natick, Massachusetts, she is *also* the founder of Stationery Store Day (SSD), which rolls into its second year of existence this Saturday, August 5.
The idea came to Kristina after being frequently asked about where other good stationery shops are. She said that more often than not, if you google ‘stationery stores,’ the closest Staples results. “And that’s not what we want,” she wrote. “I saw a real desire from people to seek out independently-owned stationery shops, and for these shops to have a day where their owners can wave a flag and say ‘I’m over here!! Come visit!'”
But don’t just take it from Kristina … her mighty organizers make a pretty memorable statement.
SSD was born in the same indie, funky, eclectic vein as Record Store Day or Independent Bookstore Day. Over at Stationery Trends, our Managing Editor Carly McFadden interviewed Kristina to get all the deets, but now that this is the week, online excitement is officially underway.
Both Kristina and I agree that our favorite part so far has been watching stores from across the nation making the festivities their own. Witness for example this newsletter buildup from The Paper + Craft Pantry in Austin. Pei’s festivities include a stationery costume contest — her entire staff will also be masquerading as stationery products! Two winners receive a hand-sewn sash, trophy and gift card. There’s also a scavenger hunt and DIY stations, with goody bags for the first 25 guests. Meanwhile Pei refreshed the entire shop, featuring plenty of branded SSD merchandise, and is also unveiling her Paper Passport, a collectible book to be filled with “stamps” at events. And, what is a party without a surprise beverage?
Meanwhile, in LA, Urbanic is starting the festivities early, partnering with several local shops for a good old-fashioned Stationery Crawl. Participating shops include Landis Gifts & Stationery (their newsletter is also excerpted below); Shorthand; Be Nice Have Fun; Sugar Paper; Baum-kuchen; Parchment Paper; Flax Pen to Paper; Paper Plant Co.; and The Social Type. As I was linking all the websites above, a serious case of FOMO kicked in (understandably)!
Kristina retained illustrator Eloise Narrigan (@eloise.draws) to generate a lively range of merchandise. None of it hits the floor until Saturday, but you can see a sneak peek below.
If you are a retailer and missed the boat on branded merch, Kristina shared many ways you can still participate:
— Giveaways like a goody bag at the door. Or, invite customers to post stories and tag you. Pick someone at the end of the day to get a prize!
— A small, easy in-store demo like touch-a-fountain pen (like touch a truck!) or a quick washi tape craft.
— Snacks and drinks!
— If you have other shops near you, organize a paper crawl. (When Kristina held hers, she called it The Paper Trail). Make a map and distribute to other shops. If a customer hits all the shops they can be entered to win a prize (as Urbanic is doing), or you can just do it for fun.
— Debut new products or a loyalty program.
It seems like every time I open my Insta, I see something like the below, from @nextchapter_studio.
So, what are you waiting for? Head on over to the stores page on the SSD site to make your plan. Oh, and be sure to follow @stationerystoreday and @calliopepaperie so you don’t miss any festive paper hijinx!
