Paper Source

I love Paper Source. However, I was very disappointed when I recently attempted to purchase some little squishy light up snowmen as holiday gifts for my piano students this year. I had bought one a few years ago & have had it sitting on my piano during the winter months. My piano students have loved it so much that I decided to buy them each one this year to give them at our recital in December. So last year I bought the last 10 they had in the store thinking I’d buy the other 35 this year. No such luck. The store has sold them the last few years but when I called them a few days ago, they said they won’t carry them this year. I was hoping maybe they could special order them for me or change their minds and decide to carry them after all or something, as now I am stuck with the 10 snowmen I have and cannot find them anywhere else. (I did google them and found some in England, but they won’t ship to the USA.) They would have been the perfect gifts for my students.

I stopped by again at Paper source to pick up the remainder of my items I ordered, I didn’t anticipate to have to stop their twice from one order, this took a lot of of my time as there is construction on cortland making your store difficult to get to.
I asked the woman who gave me my stationary about wedding invitations and having an indian theme, she had no clue what i was asking for nor could she help. I proceeded to go downstairs and look at your books anyway. Surprise enough, I found a suite of cards that I loved. I asked an employee downstairs to help put the estimate together and pay (realize this would have probably have been $ 1K — $ 2K of my hard earned money that I would have paid you). In the middle of putting the estimate together, after all of the work we went through that same employee upstairs came down and asked her to help upstairs because the store was busy. At that point, I told them not to worry about it because I had to get going anyway. The woman that came from upstairs said I could make an appointment. Make an appointment??? I’ve been in stores 3 times already in the past month — I couldn’t order items from your site because your site does not work on firefox, ipone, or ipad. I had to personally walk to the store, have an employee order the items i wanted on the computer, and then have them shipped to your store to only pick them up in 2 different shipments! what a joke!
Way to go on creating a Lose-​Lose situation! Not only did you waste my time but you wasted your employee’s time. Now i have to go back to the drawing board on finding invites.
My fiancé and I have been living in Lincoln Park for years. We are strong believers of supporting local businesses. So many times have we stumbled upon your store, found an item we loved for one of us, our friends, baby shower/​birthday presents, cards, albums, etc. With his Amazon Prime membership he would find these on amazon to see how much they cost, even though Amazon was always cheaper than the price in your store, we purchased the items from Paper Source, even if we had to carry an awkwardly shaped box walking back to our place a mile away in the rain or cold. After this extremely disappointing experience, just to get personalized stationary, I’m sad to say we won’t be returning. There are too many other stress free/​convenient/​cost effective options out there

This place is fun for anyone who is creative however when it comes to service they are horrible. I ordered wedding invites indicating that there is a time crunch and if the two month time line was possible, they assured me that it was plenty of time etc. it was delayed by at least two weeks. When I called to check on my order the staff simply seemed to be annoyed. I was given a tracking number for the invites the day that they arrived they didn’t even call me. I had to call them. Best part is… They are the wrong color. They said well, you approved it so…
The whole palette of the wedding is mint and our invites are peach.
Thanks. The quality of the invites don’t match their book that you choose from

While their products are great and unique, every time I have gone in, the staff is cold, unfriendly, and seem annoyed when I asked questions. They are especially unfriendly when I come in with my child (she’s a very quiet infant who sleeps the whole time), giving the vibe that families are not welcome there, even though many of the crafts and toys they carry are geared toward children.
The place is also not handicap accessible or stroller accessible, and they give you rude looks as you struggle to get the stroller up or down the stairs by yourself. And if you leave the stroller near the door because you can’t carry it up their non-​ramped stairs, they give you even colder looks. As a mother (and not a bride looking for wedding invitations), I felt like a second class citizen. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I were in a wheelchair or had children who could walk on their own and touch things. I give them 2 stars because their products are very nice, but their staff is very cold.

I’ve been a paper-​source customer for a long time and former employee (05 – 07). I’m getting married this summer and obviously decided to order stationary for my DIY invites. In a time crunch i ordered everything on-​line with 2-​day shipping. an extra 40 dollars (and im on a VERY VERY tight budget).
Well 4 days later I still have no stationary and the invites will be going out late. This company has gone down hill, fast.
UPDATE: Again, full disclosure that I’m a former employee. I drove more than an hour to visit a Paper Source in Porter Square Cambridge, MA. only to find out they no longer sell paper in the stores. Sure they have some paper, but they used to actually be a PAPER SOURCE. If you’re looking for their signature Paper Source stock go directly to WASTE NOT PAPER. They supply it to paper source. By dealing with them you can save yourself the frustration of dealing with a dying company.
They’ve devolved into a junky trinket store where everything has «CHINA» marked on the bottom.

This place has nice stationery, but it has a very corporate feel and the staff is somewhat unfriendly. Don’t come in with any special requests because you won’t be accommodated. I would recommend some of the boutiques and other small businesses off Armitage instead. There are lots of good options in this fun neighborhood.

Response regarding my order:
I tried multiple times to add Star dream Opal A9 envelopes to my order, with no success. I spent an hour or so calling 1−888−727−3711 and even 1−888-PAPER-11 and was put on hold endlessly. Each time I tried to leave a message by hitting «9,» I received a robotic response that all representatives were busy and to leave my name and number, that they would call me back «TOMORROW.»
What good is that when I was trying to add one more item to the order right then and there. Not only that, no one ever called back at all the next day.
I only contacted Paper Source as a favor for my daughter, and believe me, I would NEVER deal with you people again.
YOU HAVE THE WORST «CUSTOMER SERVICE» (what a misnomer) I have ever encountered.
Oh, one more thing. You LIED about «free shipping.»

Never again.

I ordered my Christmas cards 2 weeks ago and it still hasn’t been sent out for delivery. I didn’t receive a response to my email and when I called, they told me they needed to call their vendor and couldn’t do anything. This is obviously a very time sensitive order. I’ve never had a company take so long to produce my Christmas cards. Not pleased to have more pressure placed on me despite planning ahead.

My friend and I happened upon Paper Source after enjoying dinner in Lincoln Park, great neighborhood store with a variety of creative handcrafted cards for all occasions. Plus seasonal paper supplies, the store was decorated with a variety of items for Halloween. Journals, tons of stationery of all colors downstairs. I picked up variety of cards for birthdays. Stop by when you’re in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

I love Paper Source, in general, and have been to this location several times. While I’ll admit that sometimes their products can be a little bit pricier than what you can find online, I find that it’s always quality and I’ve always felt that I got what I paid for here.
I decided to finally write a review because I had a really great customer service experience there last night. I came in, kind of close to closing time, looking for stamps and ideas for place cards for my wedding. A really helpful gentleman there totally indulged my bride ramblings and took the time to take out different kinds of embossing powders and show me different options. I’m really excited to try what he helped me come up with. I can’t remember his name, but my receipt says hes cashier 83 918.
Thanks for the help, cashier 83 918! And thanks for the awesome customer service!

I ordered my wedding invitations through paper source and I cannot say enough good things about this company! I absolutely LOVE my invitations and they were easy assemble. I needed my invitations rushed towards the end of the printing process and the staff at Lincoln Park location as well as the warehouse location came through for me. I was able to get my invitations early and pick them up at the warehouse. I appreciated them helping to accommodate my needs and they did so with the up-​most service. Isabella at the Lincoln Park location was pleasant to work with, I appreciated her advice and creative input through the whole process. Planning a wedding can be stressful and Paper Source helped me remain stress free. I will be using them again for thank you cards and other paper needs in the future.

This place is dangerously on my walk to work everyday and I almost always stop in. It’s such a fun place to shop, buying cards here is such a treat. The sales associates make you feel welcome, but aren’t pushy. They also are very prompt when you’re ready to check out. LOVE Paper Source.

I am just an average customer coming in off the street. No custom order from this gal… So many awesome things in this store and Iove it! They get 5 stars because I had left the store and 10 min later freaked out because I left my shopping bag behind from a different store! It had some expensive stuff in it! They saw it left behind and put it behind the counter. How nice. Some people could be real jerks about that kind of thing. Everyone was really friendly. I will surely be back!

Brides-​to-​Be STAY AWAY from this vendor for your custom orders!
Frustrating experience and sub-​par product quality are the best ways to describe my experience. Custom invitations are NOT their strength!
First of all, I was told the invitations I selected would DEFINITELY only require standard postage (Incorrect…they required 2x the standard US postage). Then, I was sold envelopes that were not only too flimsy to hold the invitation/​detail sheet/​rsvp card + envelope, but also had defective adhesive (they would NOT stick/​seal– AT ALL… we had to buy dual sided tape runners to seal the main envelope). Additionally, I was told the ribbon to package up the documents would be pre-cut…and they were not. Awful!
Customer service was appologetic at times (when dealing with the store manager), but awkward when dealing with others… for instance, when I brought the ribbon back to the store to be cut, the associate «greeted» me with a long lecture on how Paper Source typically does not cut ribbon for customer orders… EVEN THOUGH THE STORE MANAGER, WHO PLACED MY CUSTOM ORDER, ASSURMED ME THE RIBBON WOULD BE CUT.
I selected Paper Source becuase I thought I was helping support a local, Chicago-​based business (I went to the original location on Chicago at Franklin St); however, for all of the trips I had to make back to the store and the frustrations with the quality… I should have ordered from one of the many online/​e-​tailer sources with more competitive pricing.

Love this place for the cute cards and awesome calendars. If it wasn’t so expensive I would be there every week!

Horrible customer service. I ordered custom cocktail napkins for my wedding that were adorable online, but when I got them, they had put the date right next to one of the initials so that it looked like «Joctober». I emailed them a week and a half ago and still have not gotten a clear response. There was also no apology and nothing offered to make up for the inconvenience. I will never use them again.

I figure I should address the scrapbooking selection lest there be any confusion, since none of the other reviews seem to reference this directly. At the Lincoln Park Paper Source location, the selection of scrapbooking paper is small — MAYBE 30 different papers to choose from. That’s not a lot when it comes to scrapbooking, because that’s counting your solids, your glittery solids, your seasonal patterns, your occasion-​specific patterns, etc. Given that I was in the market for artsy, not-​seasonal, not-​occasion specific patterns, I could only find one appropriate sheet of paper.
They have what looks like a reasonable number of stamps and ink pads and things, but I’m not a seasoned scrapbooker so I can’t comment on that. I’m doing an art project that necessitates scrapbooking paper but isn’t actually a scrapbook.
I do wish they would expand their scrapbooking selection so that I won’t have to step foot in another big chain craft store.
Customer service experience was a little awkward. I started out upstairs, then headed downstairs. One of the sales associates came down soon after, probably to see how I was doing, which I appreciated. She also didn’t hover, which I appreciated. I’m pretty sure I heard her call upstairs to say that they had one more customer, at which point it dawned on me that the store had closed. I also heard her co-​worker holler down at her that she hadn’t locked the door, in kind of a huffy way. Suddenly I felt under pressure to leave, so I hurriedly picked out my one piece of paper and headed upstairs to check out.
The girl at the counter was startled when I came up — «Oh, I didn’t realize we still had a customer!» «Um, but your co-​worker just told you that,» I thought. I guess she hadn’t heard, she was too busy being huffy about the door. She had apparently already shut down the credit card system and I had to pay with cash, which was fine by me, but I got the sense that if I hadn’t had cash, she would have gotten huffier. I should mention that she was perfectly nice to me, but just seemed to have an attitude with her co-​worker and it was awkward that I was there to overhear that.

Paper Source should be called Paper-​Sourcegasm. I’m dead serious.
If you’re a lover of all things pretty made of paper, stationary, envelopes and cards in every conceivable shape, size and color, this is your go-​to store. If you like stickers that you can write on or simply for decoration, large sheets of designed paper in different textiles, stamps, amusing books and calendars, etc., you’re in.
If you’re like me, and you also love to create, do-​it-​yourself, and find inspiration for a myriad of awesome projects this is for you.
I have no self control, but if I did, I would bring cash to this little shop from heaven. Somehow I am able to convince myself that I need everything and anything I see, even though I have a laundry list of projects I haven’t even touched yet. No matter. I’ll get to them.
Paper Source is my secret weapon to making large events like wedding showers, bridal showers, birthday parties, and dinner parties down to the smaller things like handmade greeting cards and the way I wrap my gifts an attempt to make Martha Stewart look like white trash. I wouldn’t say I’m quite there yet, but while she has her cast of thousands behind her and I’m pretty much competing with Paper Source alone behind me, I like to think I’m doing a pretty damn good job. =)

Holy crap, I love this store. I will never buy a Hallmark card again. This is the place to go for unique, beautiful cards with more creative sentiments. It is beyond compare. Don’t you dare buy a card at a drugstore if you live near this store. They also have a great assortment of knicknacks, gift wrap, calendars, silly books, journals, invitations, thank you notes, etc. My boyfriend bought a hilarious book, The Star Trek Book of Opposites. You kind of just have to see it.
This store will encourage your creativity, and has so many products that are a wonderful way to show somebody that you care. It inserted a little beauty into my day!

Invitation Fail.
We recently went to Paper Source to custom order some invitations for a small soirée. After walking through the design process, giving clear directions on layout and copy, we were very excited to see the finished product. We were also on a very tight time line, and we made this absolutely clear from the start.
We went with Paper Source expecting excellent service and quality deliverables. What we got was complete disappointment. Not only did they fail to include all of the necessary copy on the invitation, they ran out of the ribbon we wanted, and held up the process even more by forgetting to call to let us know. After several phone calls and emails, they got the invitation right and we were ready to process.
The next problem was with the actual invitations. The paper was cut incorrectly, and did not fit when we tried to assemble the invitation. Additionally, several of the invitations were dirty or had a blue residue of glue.
When we went back to the store to express our concerns and disappointment, we were met with compete apathy and quite a bit of attitude. There was no apology made by the store staff, but we did get a lot of scowls.
At more than $ 13 per invitation, what we got was unacceptable. A brand manager did email us finally and apologized for our horrendous experience. We did get a small percentage of the cost refunded to us.
I will never use this company for anything ever again.