week thirty-two 2025

Last week was another busy week in the shop.

I spent the first part of the week taking inventory of the storefront and placing reorders after our epic Stationery Store Day. Thanks again! A couple weeks ago I had placed several international orders during the Faire Summer Market and spent more time than anticipated contacting each of them for a quicker ship date, not ideal for my budget but necessary. Sadly, the U.S. De Minimis exemption will be overturned on August 29th and drive up costs due to tariffs and inevitably, hurt small businesses. If you aren’t familiar with the U.S. De Minimis exception, it dates back to 1938 and allowed goods imported with a value below $800 to arrive with no custom fees. This was a big benefit for small businesses, allowing us to place small orders with vendors overseas without additional costs, keeping goods affordable. For example, we order for East End Press in the United Kingdom, as well as, M.D.S. and several other Japanese stationery vendors, after all, Japan is the stationery capital of the world, in my opinion. Shipments received after August 29th, we will have to pay tariffs and custom brokerage fees, which can be more than the actual tariffs. And when I say we, I mean our small business and our customers. Tariffs are paid by the importer (buyers) not the exporting company (seller). Like most small businesses, we can’t carry these rising costs, instead our prices will increase. We’ve been getting notices almost daily from our vendors stating their costs will be rising in the fall. As mentioned, I placed as many orders as I could and am trusting they will arrive before the end of De Minimis. I wasn’t expecting to spend so much money during the slowest retail time of the year but here we are. My goal is to have a wide range of quality stationery while keeping items affordable. I’m hoping my additional orders will get us through the holidays. I’ll reevaluate pricing as reordering is needed. This is just one more roller coaster dip for small businesses this year. It's hard to keep up. 

This past week, the shop got in a few restocks as well as a couple newbies. We expanded our Found Image postcard offering. I’ve been loving the forest creature and foraging theme of stationery this year. I’ve embraced it and redid our front window with all the cuteness just before Stationery Store Day. I had ordered the cutest Found Image postcards to complement the display but sadly, they didn’t arrive until after. Trust me when I tell you again - they are the cutest! You should probably come see them for yourselves.

We also restocked everyone’s favorite notebooks from Mincing Mockingbird. Their humor is perfection. We’ve been out of the best selling - Womankind World Domination Action Planner for a bit. It’s back! As well as Business Bullsh*t. We added a couple new styles to our line up too, come and get them. We also got in some new pencil cases, Preppy Fountain Pens and highlighters with a chisel tip on one side and liner on the other. 

A new line we brought in is The Paper + Craft Pantry. I’ve gotten to know Pei, the owner and creator through a Stationery Shopkeeper Group. She’s amazing and a wealth of knowledge. I knew she’d been focusing on creating more products but I didn’t know she was wholesaling them. After she sent some snail mail with samples, I checked out her line. It’s great! We got the cutest stamp shaped, stationery themed stickers as well as scalloped washi in three colors and a few other washi styles. All perfect for snail mail, journaling or using in your planner. Stop in and check them out. 

Thursday evening we hosted our monthly Letter Writing Meet Up. I wasn’t sure anyone would come out on such a hot night, especially after Stationery Store Day but I was wrong. We had six guests who stopped in to share the magic of snail mail. Each typed or wrote a few cards and moved on with their evening. It was a nice flow of people coming and going, the table was never full or crammed, just a couple here, a couple there. Thanks to all who came out. If you don’t know, our mission since 2004 is to encourage long distance warm fuzzies through snail mail. Our shop is filled with items to help achieve that. To further our mission, we host Letter Writing Meet Ups, every first Thursday of the month from February to November. We clear off our production area, set out antique typewriters, fun pens, washi tape and invite people to come, sit and write letters. Afterward, we’ll supply postage for the letters written. It’s a magical evening sitting with like minded  beings, sharing the magic of snail mail. The next one is Thursday, September 4th from 5-7pm. Hope to see you there! 

Random, Randomness…

•Tom and I had a fun summer week! Tuesday we headed to Wrigley for a Cubs game. While we didn’t bring home the W, it was fun to be there and watch the waxing moon rise over the field. It was a mild mid-70’s out and delightful. Plus, Tom makes the best Chicago dogs at Wrigley!

•Wednesday, I filled in at Skeeball. Our usual team, Freaks and Skeeks couldn’t commit to this summer skeeson. Tom teamed up with other friends to create TABASkee Brand Rollers (imagine the Tabasco logo), I’m an alternate since they too have some travel and work commitments during the season. I was terrible! I mean, really bad. It was like I haven’t been in The Skee League since 2016. Ugh. Looks like I’ll be rolling again this week, although, they may choose another roller after last week.

•Friday Tom and I had a date night. He wanted to practice skeeball (or did he just want ME to practice?) so we headed to Begyle Brewing. I did much better, by the way. Afterward, we walked to Rojo Gusano. We love this place! It was our go to for visitors when they were still located in Albany Park. The cocktails, the food, the environment, it’s great. Plus on Fridays they have live music. If you aren’t familiar with them, check it out. 

•Sunday we saw Wilco at The Fairgrounds at The Salt Shed. It was magical! We both love Wilco’s music and try to see them once a year. We’re so fortunate to have them as our hometown band. Instead of having an opening band, Wilco played two full sets and an encore. It was 33 glorious Wilco songs and one Grateful Dead song to close out the show. If you get a chance to experience An Evening with Wilco - DO IT!

•I also listened to American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. This one took me over a week to complete. I had to take some breaks, my heart was aching too much. It’s a tale of a woman fleeing Acapulco with her son to escape the cartels. Their goal is to survive and make it to Denver where she has family. It felt desperate at times and just when you gain a little hope another challenge arises. It’s a story of determination, community, kindness of strangers, a mother’s love and survival. It was heartbreaking and eye opening and a very important and topical story. Give it a read or listen.

That covers week 32! Hope your week is filled with great stationery too.