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Anticipating customers’ wishes
The store has evolved to become
a lifestyle boutique fulfilling many needs. Among the many current categories are: fashion apparel and jewelry, spa gifts,
baby items and children’s toys, local sports team merchandise, giftware, home furnishings, and so on. Apparel and jewelry are a big part of the merchandise mix.
“The customer used to come to our store to buy a gift and attach a card to it,” says Meg. “But what we realized was that this customer’s life was getting busier.
While she was in here, she wanted to gift herself. Now she can grab a new sweater or a cute dress.”
The addition of Alex and Ani was
one brand that truly helped propel
The Paper Store into an entirely new
and younger audience. The family recalls customers literally lining up out the door for the chance to buy it. “It really changed our business; we did so much volume
in it for a period of time,” recalls Bob. Similarly, becoming a Vera Bradley
retailer helped the store grow and increase its customer base.
Shopping for inspiration
The management team prides itself on sourcing the most timely trends and covetable brands in the industry, which they research by talking to vendors and other industry players and attending markets. AmericasMart is one of the
few markets which most of the sales team attends: 10 to 12 staff members, including Bob, the management team, the lead merchandiser, and other buyers.
Seeing merchandise in manufacturer’s showrooms is crucial, says Meg. “The product is displayed in such a sensory- fulfilling way, with such pride and creativity by the people who represent it,” she says.
“We become the shopper, and we go there for our inspiration for the entire year.” The team also is known to revisit showrooms throughout the show to check out traffic and excitement of other attendees around certain products and showrooms. “When we leave that show in January, it sets the stage for the year,” says Meg. And they come home with notebooks (pretty ones, of course) filled with notes about what they’ve seen and what they plan to order.
Continuing to evolve
With locations in seven states throughout the Northeast, Meg says there is a bit of differentiation about how items trend from location to location. “We always try and personalize our assortment to the area such as Red Sox gear for the Massachusetts area,” she says. “But no matter where the store is, they all consider us their local store. We’re there in their community so they don’t have to drive 20 minutes to the mall.”
Going forward, The Paper Store plans to be even more convenient to its community of customers. The company is putting the technology in place to offer in-store pickup for online orders, and even hopes to evolve into curbside pickup.
For more information:
The Paper Store – thepaperstore.com, 877.573.1834
Images courtesy of
Patrick O'Connor Photography
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