Paper Affair

I wish I could have rated this store with no stars. One is just too much. If you page thru my other postings, I really like to yelp about positive and good stuff. Then I walked into this store. The people never left from behind the counter until I ask for help. The whole store can't be much bigger than 500 sq. ft. (maybe it is just the fact they have so much crap crammed in a tiny spot).

Once I found the card I needed (for a ridiculous $6.50), I proceeded to check out. My friend made a joke about the $6.50 card (not mean, just a joke). The lady never cracked a smile the entire time we were in the store and did not thank us for coming.

With 60 something Hallmark stores, several hundred Target's and other specialty stores that sell cards throughout Atlanta, you would think you could get the best service Atlanta has to offer in Phipps Plaza ... NOT.

Pros: Good selection of invites, gifts, and paper
Cons: Expensive, staff is unfriendly, useless, snobby, annoying...shall I continue?

I have been here a total of 2 times, both times the staff have made me feel very unwelcome. I asked for blank labels, to use as place cards or as cupcake flags. She flatly said they did not carry those. I walk about 3 aisles down, they had several kinds at the end caps. I walked out of there without purchasing them because the sales person was so snobby and apathetic. Not really sure who they are actually friendly to...women in their 60's? Will never go back there. Good day sir.

PS: Sam Flax is so much better.

This review is for the store at 4365 Roswell Rd, Atlanta

Pros: Large selection, friendly, prompt staff
Cons: One ordered item was wrong (thank you cards), one order partially damaged (wedding invitations), one order with sloppy edges (rehearsal dinner invites)

We ordered our invitations and personalized thank-you cards here.
We were helped by a younger girl who was very friendly and patient with us. We also had a lot of formality questions that she answered for us too. We got our proof back quite fast and they were good about calling to let us know and confirm order status. Also when the stuff arrived in their store they let us know ASAP. So a big thumbs up for customer service at this store. Their selection seems quite large too!

However, I was a bit disappointed in the finished products.

The thank-you cards: We paid extra to have them printed on a cardstock-like paper thickness. When they came in, they were not on the correct paper at all. We kept them anyway due to a tight timeline, but they are very flimsy and not "card"-like at all. It's like someone folded a piece of paper in half with our names printed on the front. I believe we got these for 50% off though with the invitation order, so I wasn't too upset about it.

Rehearsal dinner invites: My MIL actually ordered these and paid extra for the rounded edges. Although I never saw them myself (she's not a Yelper so I'm doing this on her behalf!), she claimed some were nicely rounded and others were sloppy-round, in that they were more square-ish. Basically very inconsistent. She was working with a little more time than us so she DID return them and request another batch. They were happy to do this for her, and the second set came back great.

The wedding invites: This is the biggest bugger - I'd say about 25% our lined invitation envelopes were warped. The inside lining of them looked almost as if they had gotten wet and then dried, so they were sort of "bubbly" on the inside. Where this occurred was right on the flap fold too, so when we went to fold them and seal them shut, it was not a clean crease. These envelopes ended up with a poor-looking, scraggly edge on top. This really sucked considering they ended up being paired with pretty calligraphy and wanted them to present nicely. Could this have been avoided if we had checked out every envelope in the store before taking them home? Sure, but is that a normal thing to do, inspect all 150+ pieces before leaving the store? We looked at a few and they were fine upon inspection and so we thought we were good to go.

Overall, great customer service and products when they are done correctly. My advice is to be extra observant of your finished products to ensure everything is right, and give yourself extra time if they get something wrong to get a corrected finished product.

I dig Paper Affair. This one happens to be right by my house, so it's easy to pop in for cards, little gifts, etc. Nice people work here, which is always a plus.

I love shopping here during the holidays as they always have great Christmas cards as well as gift options.

They've recently changed their display model for invitations- rather than having a box (or boxes) out, they have these placards that have a demo invite on them, and you can talk to the nice staff about what you want on yours, for whichever one you pick.

It seems they've upped their ante of jewelry and small gifty accessories in the last months, which is cool. Always a go-to spot when I need a quick card (or one of the great quote magnets they always have in stock), and I love their boxed notecards (whether the cutest new Kate Spade version or the ones you can get monogrammed for a small price!). Good stuff, all around!

I wish I had a chance to read the reviews before I went there, but I just happened to see it and stopped in. Service was very poor. No greeting with 3 women working and after 15 minutes finally asked me if I needed help. Lady looked at me like I was stupid when I asked for pocket envelopes and flatly said they don't carry them in the store. She then said they have them at sam flax and that it was only 8 minutes away. Needless to say I was stunned. I was going to ask about their wedding invitation design service but it was obvious she didn't want my business so I high-tailed it out of there. By the way, one lady(the owner)said they used to be at phipps. See why they are crammed in a small store now!

Swoozies is so much better. This particular Paper affair is stuffy and the staff is unhelpful and rude. I won't be going back.

actually, I loved this store and spent at least 45 minutes to an hour just browsing. they had a collection of really nice cards and magnets, near the check-out that I have not seen anywhere else. also - they have a huge selection of CRANE's and there were two baskets on the floor with sale merchandise where I got complete bargains on baby shower invitations. I also bought nice stickers to go on envelopes. 24 stickers for $3.50.

Overall the store was quite pricey... but I pulled over to browse because I much prefer the intimate setting to a large loud Target. and hallmark has never been a place for me...

they had great books on "the art of letter-writing" and "just a note to say" etc.

I really liked it here. It was a little cramped... but no more so than any other stationery store I've checked out. ( in Burlington, VT or Philadelphia, PA or London, UK ).

Who cares if the people leave from the counter? the store is so small they can help you from there. also, if they leave the counter they will probably just be in your way.

I can't stand hovering sales people when I'm browsing the cards and stationery stock...

I like that they will do free personalization of the cranes stationery. and the kate spade collection is cute.

They need some nice wrapping paper though.... and why were they setting up Christmas Cards collections ( in August? ). that's a little much.

Very poor customer service. I returned several times to choose and then proof my invitations and each time I was met with rude saleswomen that rushed me out the door! My proof was wrong, even though I typed up the words myself, they acted like it was a bother to change THEIR mistake for MY invitations. . .which were NOT cheap!

The store and the products are lovely, I would shop there frequently for gifts and stationary - but I refuse to patronize someplace that would employ such inconsiderate women!

I had two friends who just purchased new homes, so I went to Paper Affair to purchase engraved stationary for each of them with their new addresses. The first time I went, the clerk told me that my purchase could not be gift wrapped and mailed to the recipient. I would have to come back to the store to get it. When I picked it up, the clerk that day said that it could have been wrapped and sent, so I ordered the stationary for my second friend and said to send it. That was just after 5 p.m. on a Friday--their closing time.

That night, my friend told me that he had not included his condo unit number in the address. Early Saturday morning, I called Paper Affair to tell them to add the number to the address. The clerk said that it was probably too late--even though the order was placed after store hours and it was now a weekend--and Monday would be New Year's Eve. She said that she would see about it on Monday, but would not take my phone number to call me to verify that the address had been corrected.

Unless their printer takes instant orders on Friday nights and processes them early Saturday morning for a non-rush job, there is no way that the engraving could have already been completed. Yet, the clerk would not even send an email or make a phone call to leave a message with the printer. She said I would have to call back Monday morning. I wish that I had read all of the negative reviews on this site about this store before ever going there.

Yes, the prices are high. I was hoping that the price was high because of great customer service. That was definitely not the case. All of the other comments on this site about unfriendly, unhelpful staff are accurate.

All these negative postings are heartwarming. Why? Because I experienced awful service with a friend at the one on Northside. We were trying to figure out of it was because we were African-American. Now I can tell her (thankfully?) that they treat white people bad too! Congrats, Paper Affair, on your racial progress!