Return of beloved Glebe retailer The Papery

By Emily Vaz  

Walking back into The Papery, after it had been closed for almost two years because of a fire, is a slight shock to the senses.  

The building smells of new hardwood, the walls are freshly coated in light-coloured paint, and the beautiful cards, paper and pens are dimly lit with sunlight pouring in through two large front windows adorned with Halloween items. New curious customers and excited returning customers are bustling around to look at the stock and explore the new space. The staff are busy at the temporary cash, running through purchases. More staff work in a closed-off area of the store and can be seen moving and organizing boxes of fixtures and new product.  

The papery first opened its doors at Bank and Fifth back in 1986. It’s a business that’s been in the Glebe for around 38 years. As owner Katherine Slack puts it, “If any business qualifies as old time, it’s The Papery – stationery and paper, the definition of analogue.”  

On December 26, 2022, The Papery and several apartment units above were ravaged by a fire that started in the building’s lightwell. Although nobody was hurt, the building became uninhabitable. 

The Papery responded by opening a temporary pop-up location just down the street at 858 Bank Street. It was nestled on the upper floor of the building and contained the inventory of products that customers had come to expect, just in a smaller space.  

Slack said that during that experience, she felt a tonne of support from her long-term staff, community members and even the building owner, who she said was very understanding of their situation.  

“Customers have been without exception extremely supportive. I kept expecting someone to walk into the pop-up and say, ‘Oh it’s so small’ or ‘Why don’t you have this?’ and nobody did. Everybody understood and told us to hang in there. It was just wonderful. And now that we’ve quietly opened the door here, people are coming in and excited to see us back,” said Slack.  

Slack said that without the enthusiasm from staff and customers, she probably wouldn’t have continued. “If it hadn’t been for that, I would’ve just thrown in the towel, I’m way too old for this! But no, they were what pushed me to keep going.”  

Slack says that although it’s a triumph to finally be back in the old location, the transition is far from done.  

“I’m not quite happy yet. I’m still feeling a lot of the stress of it not being done, and my customers are coming in and peering through the gloom because we don’t have any lighting. I’m responding the best I can without any real talent for doing this stuff. And I was thinking today what this really required was a tenacity of imagination. And that’s the really hard part, getting past walking through this space after the fire with no lighting and the gloom, the damp and the smoke. And it was just wow, how do you imagine this is going to turn out?”  

The plan for the space is slowly coming along, and Slack said she wants to use the front window space for seasonal items for people to enjoy as they walk by throughout the year. “I was remembering the window displays in The Bay and Simpsons department stores, they used to have large displays for the different seasons,” said Slack. “The rest of the store is designed around our tagline, for paper inspiration and how paper inspires you in different areas of your life.” 

The plan is to have a separate section full of wrapping paper and tissues, a section for notebooks and art supplies, a section for party and celebratory supplies and then the usual card islands.   

Slack said there’s a lot of technical aspects to setting up the store again, and it’s looking like the last bit of work will be finished around mid-November. But so far, the community has been very excited to see the store transitioning back to its former glory.  

“For this store, community has been absolutely key. Fundamental. We don’t have customers we have fans. And that’s so wonderful and this is a super community. It’s been a recurring trend over the years. People have found us and see that we’re doing something quite unique, and they’re very appreciative of the mix of products and aesthetic we have. And very little rude stuff apart from the socks . . . they’re hysterically rude. So, it’s resonated with a lot of people for a lot of years, and I’m just so pleased it continues to do so.”  

 

Emily Vaz is a recent graduate of the Carleton School of Journalism. 

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