Our Paper Place: A Scrapbooker's Heaven

A craft store that can fulfill the desires of anyone who enjoys creating scrapbooks, cards and similar crafts is nearing its one-year anniversary.

located on Jarvis Avenue near Safeway, was founded by Sarah de Guzman and Gloria Kee and opened its doors to Newark in November 2010. it aims to bring the proper supplies for scrapbooking not just to customers here in Newark but to hobbyists from the entire Bay Area. 

De Guzman's focus is on the creativity of the craft, Kee's on the business aspects of the store.

 “It was essentially an idea that Sara and I had,” Kee said “It seemed like the right market and the right time to do it and so we jumped into it.”

In just 10 months, Our Paper Place has been well received by customers, Kee said. Sometimes people stop by just to express their gratitude for the store's existence, and some customers from outside of the Bay Area drive to Newark once a week to share their creativity, she said.

The small focuses on customer service and its staff can special order items requested by customers, Kee added.

“We obviously can’t carry everything, so we have to be selective,” she explained.  

The inventory includes art paper, lettering supplies, small items like buttons and beads, and handcrafted greeting cards.

Our Paper Place holds classes for adults about once a week, with topics like how to do a two-page layout or make greeting cards. It also offers classes for kids.

Kee and de Guzman hope to attract still more customers.

“We’re still a fairly new store and word spreads, but word doesn’t necessarily spread at the rate of one would expect,” Kee said. “So what we’d like to get the word out so that every crafter or anyone interested in starting a craft like scrapbooking or card-making knows about Our Paper Place.”

For more information about Our Paper Place, click www.ourpaperplace.com to visit the store's website.