Paper in the Park Celebrates Anniversary with Sale

When Susie Hill set out to get birth announcements for her son in February 2007, she had no idea where that would lead. Hill's sister, Katharine Sodergreen, went with her to Virginia and Washington, DC, to get the birth announcements with her son in tow.

“After the trip, I complained to my husband that my son wouldn’t stop crying,” Hill said. “And he was like ‘why are you dragging a newborn to Virginia?’ And I told him we needed a certain paper we couldn’t get here.”

Hill’s husband had a pretty smart response to their paper dilemma.

“He said ‘if there is such a need for the paper, why don’t you open a store?’" Hill said. “I didn’t think much about it, then my sister said ‘remember what Rodney said about opening a store?’ We talked about it for a few months and then the next thing we know we signed the lease in June 2007 and opened in August 2007."

Five years later, Hill and Sodergreen are co-owners of Paper in the Park and are celebrating their success by offering 20 percent off the entire store until Friday.

“We are having our annual sale that we have every August for five days,” Hill said. “It is 20 percent off everything in the store, excluding custom order and printing. It’s really a great time to get our Mom Agendas—they are very popular with local mommas.”

The "Mom Agenda" is a day planner that runs through an academic year, meaning it starts in August. Hill said it is a popular item during the August sale.

Paper in the Park specializes in custom design invitations—particularly for weddings—starting with save-the-date cards, programs, table numbers and more.

“My favorite part about the store is that we are so much a part of the happy parts of people’s lives,” Hill said. “We’ll have a bride and her mom come to pick out wedding invitations. Then, the bride comes back for birth announcements and the mom comes back for her son’s rehearsal announcements. It’s so neat.”