Long-running creative endeavour

Brazen browsers are always welcome at the Paper Gallery.

“A lot of people just love to come and look,” says Julie Pedersen Ross, who owns the Winnipeg gift shop. “They always tell us, ‘Oh, I have an hour — I’m so excited to be here and just look around.’”

Situated in River Heights at 1437 Corydon Ave., the Paper Gallery features more than 2,000 different greeting cards that staff have hand-selected. There’s also stationery and a range of gifts.

Whether you’re looking for candles, picture frames, children’s books and toys, kitchenware, party supplies, bath products, journals, reading glasses or novelty gifts, it’s likely the Paper Gallery has a fun, functional item to suit your needs.

One of Pedersen Ross’s goals is to create a unique shopping experience.

“There are a lot of things that you can do online, but (our) customer service, great product lines and the in-store experience sort of sets (us) apart,” the 48-year-old says. “(We’re) just creating a space for people to come and enjoy, whether they buy or not.”

This year marks the Paper Gallery’s 50th in business. The entrepreneur and her staff are gearing up to mark the occasion with a week-long celebration that starts today. It will include gift bag giveaways plus food and drinks.

While she’s looking forward to the festivities, Pedersen Ross says she’s also feeling “slightly overwhelmed.” She purchased the business in October from Itzik and Anne Joudan, who owned and operated it for 29 years.

“I feel like I have big shoes to fill as it is, and 50 years is a huge milestone,” says Pederson Ross, who made her living as a designer prior to buying the Paper Gallery with her husband, Andrew Ross. “But (this is about) the community — having food from neighbouring restaurants and just sort of bringing people together.”

Friends Lillian Neaman and Audrey Weidman opened the Paper Gallery at the corner of Academy Road and Ash Street in 1976, before relocating to 404 Academy Rd., about five years later.

Weidman sold her interest in the business around 1986, making Neaman the sole proprietor for the next 10 years. By then, Anne Joudan was a loyal customer. Looking for a new venture and sensing Neaman might be thinking about retirement, Joudan asked a real estate company to approach Neaman on her behalf. They struck a deal and Joudan and her husband took over the business in 1996.

In August 2006, the Joudans moved the Paper Gallery to its current home, a 2,500-square-foot space in what used to be a pharmacy.

Meanwhile, Pedersen Ross studied business administration and marketing at Red River College before moving to Vancouver, where she studied at the Helen Lefeaux School of Fashion Design. Afterward, she created Muckies, a line of designer mukluks, and then moved to Toronto to work for fashion designer Linda Lundström.

Pedersen Ross moved back to Winnipeg around 20 years ago when she and Andrew, an accountant and partner at Advance Electronics, got engaged. They have two children, James and William. In 2017, Pedersen Ross and her sons started Stuff, a line of travel organizer bags they handmade using salvaged materials.

The entrepreneur was introduced to the Paper Gallery the following year, when the store started carrying her products. When Pedersen Ross heard the Joudans were considering retirement, she and her husband offered to buy the business.

The couple have always been entrepreneurial, she says, plus the Paper Gallery is close to where they live and a good chance to teach their teenage sons about what it means to run a business.

“It’s just such a unique store with amazing customers,” Pedersen Ross says. “It’s a special place.”

Itzik Joudan retired following the sale. All but one of the store’s eight employees stayed on board, including Anne Joudan, who continues to work part-time.

That continuity has eased the ownership transition and helped reassure long-time customers who were concerned about what the store might look like under new management, Pedersen Ross says.

Anne Joudan calls it “a win-win” for everyone involved. “They have someone to ask questions of and to guide them when needed and I get to come to work to see all the old customers and to be with people,” she says.

Pedersen Ross is friendly and outgoing, Joudan adds, which makes her a natural fit to run a store.

“The Paper Gallery will continue very successfully in the neighbourhood because it’s in good hands. That was very important to us — that it continue on with the right people.”

Over the last year, Pedersen Ross has used her design background to update the store’s interior. She’s installed new carpeting and rearranged some of the displays.

When it comes to the store’s inventory, she’s taken a “no changes, only additions” approach. She’s added new merchandise, including products by 10 local makers, that now sit alongside the items that longtime customers expect to see.

“I feel lucky that the customers have adopted me,” Pedersen Ross says. “They’ve been welcoming. That’s meaningful to me.”

It’s a new creative endeavour for someone who’s chased creative pursuits for 30 years.

“I like creating things and making spaces beautiful to live in,” she says. “(It’s about) embellishing the ordinary, I guess.”

Working at the Paper Gallery is fun because it’s a positive environment, she adds. Sometimes, at the end of the day, she doesn’t want to leave.

“It’s really fun putting displays together or thinking about the holidays coming up and how (we’re) going to display that. You never know who’s coming through the door, so it’s always a treat seeing someone you know and people are generally in a good mood when they come here.”

Pedersen Ross looks forward to welcoming customers into the store for the anniversary celebration. Whether it’s their first visit or 100th, people are sure to find something that captures their imagination.

“Everywhere you look, you kind of need (to spend) an hour in that direction because there’s just so much stuff,” she says.

“Just really unique things.”

aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca