Uncategorized

“My mother is an extraordinary hostess. She makes every person feel welcome — like he or she is the most important individual in the room,” said Lisa Mattison Roberts, co-owner of the Michigan paper and gift emporium, Rock Paper Scissors.

This rare quality made her mom Ann Mattison a perfect partner with whom to open their Tecumseh location, while Lisa launched the Ann Arbor venue solo. “We moved every few years growing up because my father is a college football coach,” Roberts recalled. “As a result, my mom strived to make us feel comfortable in each new home. From cozy dinners to festive birthday parties, her warmth has always been contagious.”

With every new zip code, the duo explored every town together, which always meant stumbling across some great gift shops. “We always said that we wanted to start a business together,” Roberts continued. And that they did.

Tecumseh: A Dream Realized

The mother-daughter entrepreneurial team shares a similar perspective on celebrating milestones and a passion for making ordinary days a lot more special. Rather than sending impersonal emails, “snail mail” via handwritten notes is their preferred means of sharing sentiments.

How did the dream shops become reality? After graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 2003, Roberts eventually landed a retail management position at Target. Later, while earning an MBA from University of Florida, she became enamored with southern hospitality and all of the wit and charm associated with it.

Soon after graduation, Roberts and her husband Ken moved to his native state of Michigan. She accepted a role as consumer market manager with Bank of America and in her leisure time, she began designing invitations and stationery.

Following Roberts’s move, Mattison and her husband, Greg, relocated to the Ann Arbor area from Baltimore. When a retail space opened up in the historic downtown area of Tecumseh, Mattison and Roberts decided it was finally time to venture into business together. In 2011 while Roberts was still employed at Bank of America, the duo opened the Tecumseh store.

The Tecumseh shop is housed in the Bidwell Building, built in 1852. The charming locale stocks everything from hostess gifts to fabulous invitations, and delightful gifts for babies and children. “We loved the quaint town and felt it needed a place to help celebrate all of life’s occasions,” Mattison said.

“Never having a stationery store in town before, it was fun to help people create their first personalized stationery collection or explain the pieces of a wedding collection to a bride-to-be,” Roberts added.

The shop draws a diverse clientele including high school girls, stay-at-home moms and even husbands seeking gifts for their wives. “The bright colorful merchandise paired with funky antiques creates a fun shopping experience,” Roberts noted.

The Tecumseh shop carries everything from notecards from Snow & Graham to recipe cards, greeting cards from Curly Girl Design and personalized stationery from Boatman Geller.

Ann Arbor Debut

Eventually Roberts left Bank of America. When a space opened up on Ann Arbor’s Main Street — recently named one of the best Main Streets in America by Travel +Leisure — she recognized a golden opportunity not to be missed. So in April 2012, the second location opened its doors.

A fusion of a bustling atmosphere, lots of foot traffic and a quaint college town made Ann Arbor an ideal locale. Beyond the neighborhood coffee shop, artsy comic book store and art gallery, the shop is surrounded by chic bars and restaurants. It’s also just a few blocks from the University of Michigan campus.

Augmenting its home décor and gift selections, the shop offers edgy greeting cards, upscale stationery and wedding invitations. At more than 2,000 square feet, it can stock a larger selection of products than the Tecumseh store.

Top stationery collections hail from Rifle Paper Co. and Smock. This past fall, Page Stationery created a custom Michigan/Great Lakes stationery set, which became an instant favorite. Best-selling cards differ by season. At press time customers were craving cards from 9th Letter Press and Sugar Paper. Overall, the single best-selling card is “Dear Noah” (Sapling Press) followed by “You’re the Cat’s Pajamas” (Rifle Paper Co.).

Both locations offer elegant custom invitations created by an in-house team, as well as distinctive selections from companies including Wednesday, Bella Figura, Alee and Press and Printerette Press.

Down to Business

Business savvy is certainly key to the success of both locations. In regard to display, Mattison and Roberts aim to keep it all “fresh.” In fact, a customer said that the Ann Arbor shop looked as though her Pinterest board sprang to life. “We’re constantly moving and creating new displays and bringing in products to keep the store fun,” Roberts said.

Beyond stimulating visuals, offering specials keeps customers engaged. Throughout the year, Rock Paper Scissors offers customers a lively opportunity to beat them at their own game. So if a customer wins a round of Rock Paper Scissors, she earns a reward — usually in the form of a discount.

As always in retail, the staff truly makes a difference. The goal is to find the best people who can create unparalleled experiences for the customer. For 2013, it’s all about education. Mattison and Roberts want the staff to understand the various printing processes, and be well versed on the companies and designers. Scouting out local and regional artists as well as emerging talent is also a top priority.

After debuting both stores, Rock Paper Scissors still continues to surprise Roberts. “We went from a wedding studio in my basement two years ago to offering 10 collections in Tecumseh and more than 25 in Ann Arbor. I’m so excited about how open Ann Arbor is to trying new things — from Fig. 2 Design’s neon greeting and notecards to feather gift tags by The Great Lakes Goods. Ann Arbor manages to pleasantly surprise me every time.”

Quick Q&A: Lisa Mattison Roberts

Q. There are some things that are timeless — a little black dress or the perfect martini comes to mind. What epitomizes “timeless” for you when it comes to stationery?

A. A thick white card with an understated classic name or monogram. It would (be accompanied by) a surprisingly bright envelope liner.

Q. With new stationery designers cropping up daily, how do you recognize the talented entrepreneurs among the hobbyists?

A. It’s about originality and quality. If I love a collection, it could be a hobby for the designer and I’d still offer it. If the most talented entrepreneur is printing poorly on low-quality paper, I won’t bring the collection in. It has to fit our aesthetic.

Q. What are your three top-selling paper collections?

A. Rifle Paper Co., Smock and Kate Spade.

Q. What have you learned about running a stationery business in the last year that’s surprised you?

A. People still love a handwritten note as much as I do. As busy as their lives get, people still value their own stationery collection and quality paper.

Q. If you were a stationery product, what would you be?

A. A thick Kraft notecard with a clever saying — either in great typography or hand-lettered.

Q. What is the best buy under $50?

A. Damn Fine Day art print by Ann Arbor local, Sibling.

Q. What is the best splurge item?

A. Alee and Press custom correspondence collection notecards with matching envelope liners.

— (email the editor about this article)