The Papery opens temporary pop-up location

By Keaton Hills

The Papery has now reopened at a temporary location after a fire at their store. However, the wait for the reopening of their regular location could be “a year or maybe longer,” according to owner Katherine Slack.

The Papery at 850 Bank Street sells holiday themed greeting cards, wrapping paper and other items. On Boxing Day a devastating fire broke out at the store.

“The fire was a huge shock. We’ve been selling paper for well over 30 years and always at the back of my mind has been the risk of fire…I was there at the store when it broke out and I heard noises so I went upstairs and came into the main part of the store and saw flames and my head went Oh my God there it is after all these years, there’s the fire,” said Slack.

Everything in stock and the store itself was severely damaged and the store had to close.

“I had never dealt with smoke damage. The smoke damaged everything, I was not expecting that. Any paper even if it was wrapped in plastic there was no way I could guarantee the integrity of the product. It took them a long time for them to really convince me of what was about to happen…If you go into the space now there is nothing left, if you walk into the front door you can see the windows on the back wall. The hardwood floor which was always a great feature…that’s gone…All our fixtures are gone and of our stock is gone,” said Slack.

On March 27th ‘The Papery’ opened a temporary pop-up location on the upper-level of 858 Bank Street not far from their original location.

“It’s a much smaller space so we’ve had to trim down what we offer but we still have a comparable selection of greeting cards…we have a good collection of paper serviettes. The arts supplies are looking good, we have gift bags, some roll wrap, some sheet paper,” said Slack.

The reopening of the original location will be a long process.

“The demolition is complete and now it’s going to be conferring with the inspectors and finding out what needs to be done. Codes have changed since that building was built so there will be upgrades that will need to happen,” said Slack

Frequent customers of ‘The Papery’ have been supportive during the difficult time.

We’ve received emails, we’ve received phone calls, people have dropped off notes and taped them to the front door…I’ve answered as many emails as I can and were really looking forward to being able to welcome everybody back in,” said Slack

The Papery has also gotten support from their insurance company and their staff since the fire.

“Our staff has been great. We’ve been able to rehire some of our part-time staff, we don’t have the same staffing needs but there will be familiar faces here,” said Slack

Slack credits her manager Kathy and Assistant manager Sean for playing a big part in getting them through the tough times.

The store is now open Monday to Saturday from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. and Sundays from 11 A.M. to 5 P.M.

Keaton Hills is a second-year journalism student at Carleton University.

The Papery has opened a temporary location at 858 Bank Street, suite 100 upstairs, selling a selection of paper goods and art supplies.

Photo:
Keaton Hills