Schurman Retail Group is an American

stationery Stationery refers to commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous form paper, and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) ...

greeting card A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthday ...

, gifts, and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

products company based in

Fairfield, California Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, in the North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, approximately fro ...

. The company operates brands and retail stores under the names

Papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

, NIQUEA.D, and Paper Destiny. It also sells the

American Greetings American Greetings Corporation is a privately owned American company and is the world's second largest greeting card producer behind Hallmark Cards. Based in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland, the company sells paper greeting ...

brand and manages its subsidiaries, including

Carlton Cards Carlton Cards Limited (french: Cartes Carlton Limitée) is a greeting card company in Canada. Its lines of cards include Carlton, Gibson and Tender Thoughts. It also distributes the American Greetings line of cards in Canada. Since 2009, "Carlton ...

(in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the U.S.). Schurman Retail Group has over 450 retail stores across the United States and Canada It is currently the second-largest American specialty retailer in the greeting card industry.

History

Schurman Fine Papers

The company was founded in 1950 by Marcel and Margrit Schurman in their

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

kitchen. It was originally known as Schurman Fine Papers and operated as a

wholesaler Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In g ...

, importing fine art-inspired greeting cards, stationery, and other paper products from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The Schurmans would sell the imported paper products to local gift and book shops. In its first year of operation, the company earned $20,000. It earned its first $1 million in 1961, and, by 1965, it had a warehouse and several employees. In 1973, Margrit Schurman opened the first Papyrus retail store in Berkeley to exclusively sell the company's products. Over the next five years, the company opened more Papyrus retail stores across the United States and eventually opted to start selling franchises. In the 1980s, Schurman Fine Papers had salespeople and showrooms across the country and began pulling in around $10 million in annual revenue. In 1982, the Schurmans' youngest daughter and current

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, Dominique Schurman, began working at the firm. In the 1980s, the company began domestic production of papyrus products. Dominique Schurman became the company's Vice President within a few years. When her father, Marcel, retired in 1991, Dominique took over as CEO. Her primary goal was to promote the Papyrus brand and continue to create in-house greeting cards. By 2005, Schurman had increased the number of Papyrus retail stores from 37 to 146.

Schurman Retail Group

In 2009, Schurman Retail Group sold the Papyrus brand and wholesale division to American Greetings, while buying 341 American Greetings retail outlets. In addition to the American Greetings retail stores, Schurman Retail Group also acquired Carlton Cards outlets in Canada. Following the American Greetings deal, the company began earning $200 million in annual revenue. In 2012, American Greetings, which owns a 15% stake in Schurman Retail Group, appointed the company to manage Clintons retail stores in the U.K. The company operates over 400 retail stores in North America with brands including Papyrus, NIQUEA.D, Paper Destiny, and Carlton Cards. Due to trademark issues, Schurman Retail opened in the UK as Jolie Papier in 2014 with its first store at Bluewater Shopping Centre followed by a second location in Newcastle. In August 2017, American Greetings took back management of Clinton. By November 2019, Schurman Retail Group was looking to get rent reductions from landlords and consider closing stores. As of January 21, 2020, it was announced that all 254 remaining Papyrus, Paper Destiny, Niquea D, American Greetings and Carlton Cards would be closed. The company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Brands

Papyrus

Papyrus is the Schurman Retail Group's flagship brand. It also operates as a retail shop with over 450 stores in the United States. It sells a variety of products including greeting cards, gift wrap, stationery, note cards, journals, customized invitations, and other gift and paper products. The first Papyrus retail store was opened in 1973 in Berkeley, California. Papyrus-branded products feature a pink hummingbird logo.

American Greetings

In 2009, the Schurman Retail Group purchased over 300 American Greetings retail shops, eventually rebranding them into Papyrus shops. Papyrus currently sells American Greetings products. Additionally, American Greetings owns a 15% stake in the Schurman Retail Group. American Greetings also owns the Carlton Cards (in Canada), the Schurman Retail Group began operating Carlton Cards shops. In 2012, American Greetings appointed Schurman Retail Group to manage the Clintons brand in the U.K.

Other brands

The Schurman Retail Group also offers several other brands including NIQUEA.D and Paper Destiny. NIQUEA.D is a line of gifts, jewelry, and other accessories that are sold at Papyrus outlets. Paper Destiny is another retail outlet that sells greeting cards, stationery, and other products. It is similar to Papyrus shops, but is considered a mid-market alternative.

References

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External links

Official websitePapyrus official websitePaper Destiny official websiteCarlton Cards official website
1950 establishments in California Companies based in Solano County, California Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 History of Berkeley, California Retail companies established in 1950