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December 8, 2000/Kislev 11, 5761, Vol. 53, No.11
Good etiquette, great events begin on paper
BETH OLSON
Editorial Assistant
Newly remodeled and filled with colorful treasures, the Paper Place is right at home in the Scottsdale Arts District. The store features custom stationery and invitations and carries an array of preprinted materials, as well as cards and gift items.
The Paper Place, owned by sisters Nancy Silver and Betsy Hendricks, was established 22 years ago by Silver and the women's mother, Judy Silver. Hendricks joined the business nine years ago after returning to Scottsdale from Austin, Texas.
The three women worked together in the business until Judy died in 1994.
Silver recalls that originally, as in many stationery stores, customers visited to select invitations from books. After a while, Silver says, the women sought greater challenge.
"I wanted to start creating things out of the ordinary. ... People were thrilled with something different," she says. And so began the Paper Place's tradition of custom invitations.
Silver estimates that 40 percent of the company's business is custom design. A full-time designer works with clients.
Hendricks says some customers come in knowing exactly what they want, while others rely on the Paper Place staff to steer them in the right direction.
"A customer will come - a lot of times without any ideas of what they want to do, whether it's for a holiday card or for an invitation - and we'll end up ... creating the theme," explains Hendricks.
Part of their success, says Hendricks, is due to the expertise of the Paper Place staff.
"We have people who've worked here for a long time who know what they're doing, as far as (invitation) etiquette goes," she says.
The shop has about 13 employees, including George Abrams, "I suppose you'd call him the manager. ... He's like family."
Abrams joins Silver and Hendricks to travel to gift shows in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, where the trio searches for the unusual.
Silver takes her mother's advice and checks every corner of the markets for just the right items. This thoroughness can result in a great find, such as the time when Hendricks and Abrams "lost Nancy for a while ... and we find her in front of this guy who's got sterling silver pistachio openers. Talk about the gift for someone who has everything," says Hendricks.
Silver adds, "Everybody laughed at me and told me I was nuts. We've sold hundreds."
Silver and Hendricks are Scottsdale natives. Their father, Warren Silver, is a founding member of Temple Beth Israel.
The women contribute to the local Jewish community by donating merchandise to thrift shops for both Kivel Campus of Care and Jewish Family and Children's Service.
Hendricks, with her husband, Mike, children, Jessica, 11, and Brian, 8, lives in the home in which the sisters grew up.
The most rewarding part of the business, Hendricks says, is seeing happy customers.
"When they call and say the invitations were a hit - everybody loved them - the party was a hit. That's my favorite part," she says.
The Paper Place is located at 4130 N. Marshall Way, 480-941-2858.
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