Paper Vision
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
27 Reviews for Paper Vision
For Santa Cruz, it's okay but if you really want to browse a good selection of stationery, go to University Art in Palo Alto or Flax Art & Design in SF.
Had to get something for my 4 year-old nephew in a hurry. No time to ask what, I ducked into Paper Vision to start with a birthday card. Their selection is huge! You'll find a card for anybody, any age, at this place.
Looking for more, I found the sticker racks. He loves stickers. Down the aisle were these interesting looking colorful boxes. Hmm, what I could put in here?
The next aisle over had lots of little trinkets but none to my liking for a little boy. Then I saw these tiny formula 1 racing cars, about an inch by an inch. Their wheels were like wind up toys so when you pushed the car backwards and let it go, it would race 20 feet across the floor. Just perfect. And it fit in the colorful box.
Before I left, I took note of all the potential small gifts I could get someone, big or small. Such as the stationary selection and the photos, prints in back.
-Sell cute Japanese stationary and other fancy floral note pads
-they have toys that people play with in their childhood years, it brings memories
-my favorite toy was this piece of sushi which had wheels.. and when you crank it back and set it on the ground.. the piece of sushi runs everywhere. I imagined myself chasing after it with chopsticks. It was hilarious at the time...may be I've been in the store too long
-they sell nice posters to decorate your plain white walls.
-oh, the store carries the most unique birthday cards, high quality pop-ups and dangly cards..hall mark has nothing on them.
-a nice place to browse around
This store is great if you're looking for a gift for someone who likes cute, colorful trinkets with moderate usefulness. We've found some great posters here, though the art selection isn't huge. The staff is friendly and there are lots of inventive gift options, so while you shouldn't expect to find anything in particular you've been looking for, it's a great place for window shopping if you're not sure what you want.
I don't know why but I love looking at cards. There's just so many! And they're so pretty! Each time you think you find the perfect card for someone, you look over and find another. I could spend a long time in here. They have so many cards for everything; and not just the usual birthday stuff. They have cool art ones that are probably better for hanging on your wall than for sending to someone; like mini-posters or something. They have cool journals and books and funny trinkets. I saw one of those "fortune telling fish" and it totally brought me back to my childhood because I had one. You lay it flat and if the tail moves upward, it means jealousy, etc. So lame yet so cool. Nostalgia + cards = good in my book.
Great place or out of the ordinary cards and stationary. Tons are small toys and gifts (think stocking stuffers) and a fun collection of european papers and gifts.
Best place for unique gifts (of the small variety)
Besides in a world of computers and emails, getting something on a pretty piece of paper is a treat!
Whenever I come to this store, I get completely lost for about half an hour. It's the best place to get cards for whatever occasion. They also have calendars, posters and toys. I think that's the part where I get lost in. The toys. Last time I went there I was having fun with the stuffed animals that look like tiny microbes. Red blood cell, white blood cell, the flu, etc. Maybe I'm just easily entertained.
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When my mother was alive, she would ALWAYS stop in here to look at pens, paper, cards and those cheesy toys. Getting stuff for Christmas for her was always "easy" in the sense that they have a great collection of those heavy bottle openers in the shape of monkeys and nuns. They have cute little knick-knacks, educational toys, and random pop culture items for purchase.... while going through her things we found the stationery she bought.... which over the nine years I have been in Santa Cruz...added up to a lot. Every once in a while I will peak my head in and remember when mom and I used to go in here and ditch "the guys."
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I was walking down Pacific the other day, thinking about what happens if I leave Santa Cruz. I saw Paper Vision, and I was sad. I think Paper Vision captures a little of the essence of what makes Santa Cruz unique-- at least as much as a store can without selling drug paraphernalia.
I'm not a big fan of card stores in general. But I always know that Paper Vision has something for whoever I'm looking for, and I've wound up buying many cards and gifts for folks here. The prices are a little high, but the variety makes it forgivable.
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Looking for a gift for a writer, artist, or book lover?
Here you can choose from handmade journals, postcards, letter sets, and just about anything to do with paper and the ancient art of marking upon it.
The retro posters and prints are pretty cool too...
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They have tons of unique little toys, knicknacks, cards, posters, etc. So fun to browse here! They also do affordable poster mounting which looks great and is a lot more affordable than traditional picture framing.
Great place to find gifts! A very unique and fun selection
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Despite the weirdness of the people of downtown Santa Cruz or Santa Cruz in general, I love this place!
They have such unique cards for any occasion. I actually got a planner here and it's cute. No one else has it!
I went yesterday and for some reason, their a/c wasn't working so they left all the lights off. It was still a little stuffy inside.
I was looking at some cards by the window and out of nowhere pops out a MAN DRESSED AS A FEMALE CLOWN WITH A PINK THEME!!! OMG! I was so scared. He was walking really really slowly and staring around with a huge smile. I was creeped out.
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This is such a great, unique and fun shop. I've gotten some of the best cards for birthdays and what not. They have everything from the typical cards, to blank famous photographs for cards, artsy to inspirational. They have everything from actual unique papers, cards, t-shirts, nick nacks, journals, magents, pens, toys and tons of other stuff. For either real needs or just browsing, you are bound to find something you either want or need here.
I know I've bought cards I've needed, magnets I didn't, speciality papers I've needed and a Hello Kitty Coin Jar I couldn't live without.
Staff is friendly and helpful. The store is simple and clean, great since you aren't looking at that, you are looking at all the interesting and sometimes bizarre little things.
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A great place to find a card for any occasion. Paper vision sells high quality cards, posters, calanders, stationary, or anything else paper related. Most of their merchandise doesn't even resemble the tackiness that Hallmark offers. They are a little more expensive than the corporate greeting card store, but their cards are a lot nicer.
This is a really good card/gift shop. They have a card for every occasion, and a great selection of off-beat, artsy cards that have attitude rather than flowers...........They also have random gifty things and some toys. journals, gift wrap, stickers, etc etc. It's the kind of store that every college town has, but with good Santa Cruz attitude.
This is a wonderful little shop that contains a plethora of unique, fun, quirky, and hard to find items. As the name implies, this store focus's on cards and the like, but it also has an outstanding selection of all kinds of special little gift items. Literally, there is something here for everyone.
They have a fabulous selection of greeting and note cards, clever little note pads, adorable and bizarre children's books (not freaky, bizarre in a fun way), old school figurines (need a Gumby doll - they've got it ... Pokey too!), cool pens and pencils, posters, shirts, aprons - there is so much here!
This is a place where you'll be able to find something for everyone and the BEST place to go if you're unsure of what to get that someone who has everything. No matter the age or personality of the intended recipient I am confident that you'll find something wonderful here.
I would highly recommend everybody to stop in at least once and check it out - I guarantee you'll be a returning customer.
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This is where I purchased, besides many cute birthday cards, my Jane Austen action figure. I love this store just for that. I also love that it's locally owned and has a nice dry paper-y smell when you walk in.
On a more practical and less whimsical note, in the first months of the year they sell their calendars at decent discounts.
Paper Vision is awesome. They have a large assortment of cards that are hard to find elsewhere, a good selection of posters, stationary, random/unique toys, and some books. I'll normally come here to get birthday cards, stickers, and random gifts for people or for myself.
One of the few affordable places in downtown Santa Cruz, perfect to pick up a unique and inexpensive gift for someone or find something funky for your home. They sometimes have crazy good sales to watch out for, as someone who is into scrapbooking I snapped up a bunch of beautiful calendars a few months into the new years for next to nothing.
you can find almost anything and everything that you need here for art and letter writing and doll making and painting...all the "arts". their prices aren't the lowest but at the same time...it beats spending the time and gas trying to get to san jose or oceanside to go to other art stores. they have a lot of unique items as well, handmade cards, crafts, and specialized toys. i loved coming here for some real cute, one of a kind cards.
I love the cards and calendars here, and they always have the best Christmas card selection at the holidays. Cute toys in the back, especially the various rubber duckies and the vintage inspired metal lunch boxes. I'm always able to find gifts for the hard-to-shop-for people in my life here.
from martian popping things, nun-catapulting devices to potato guns to various greetings cards, this store is like walking through the pages of a real-live archie mcphee catalogue! it has all sorts of weird and impractical things (instant snow--just add water, really?) to "i have no idea these sort of things existed" novelties (wind up hopping lederhosen!) that please people of all ages.
it's really unfortunate that most cards chosen for occasions
are of the hallmark variety - don't get me wrong - hallmark can
make some pretty funny and sometimes cute cards -
but where is the variety??
then there is paper vision - a store full of all sorts of cards with
awesome designs and thicknesses of paper and shapes, etc!
i am in heaven each time i go into paper vision
really - wouldn't you love a unique card, carefully picked out, written
in and sent your way - to me, that is a true sign of thoughtfulness
anyhow, great selection of cards, address books and calendars
(buy when they are on sale) - cool little toys and misc. items too -
though sometimes a little pricey
if only they had a nice selection of writing pens too...
A lovely stationery store that offers a wide variety of greeting cards, as well as stationery sets, calendars, writing utensils, postcards, and other fun items. They even have some small toys and gift items, and this is probably the only place in Santa Cruz that carries Japanese stationery.
They have cute stuff here and it you are looking for a gift they are great for that too. Here is where I fell in love with Blythe from Chronicle Books. Just like Jess M. said, its nothing I really need but as soon as you walk in you want to buy everything. They have cute desk toys too.
fancy paper, poster, and gift store. great selection of things like imported toys, paper doll sets, and kitschy postcards. nothing i need, but everything i want...
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