This story was first published in KCUR's Adventure newsletter. You can sign up to receive stories like this in your inbox every Tuesday.
The holidays are a popular time to send cards and notes to friends and families, a tradition that started back in the mid 1800s and has always carried a nostalgic feeling. There’s no reason that sending good vibes via paper post can’t be a year-round activity, though.
Kansas City is home to one of the largest (and most famous) greeting card companies in the world. But there’s a larger world out there, and the metro enjoys a number of independent stationery stores — or paperie, if you’re feeling fancy — that are jam packed with your every correspondence need.
There you’ll find artist-made cards, elegant stationery, whimsical gifts, neat writing utensils, and adorable novelties like planters, pins, patches, and stickers. These stores mingle the quirky and the cute, funky and subversive, humorous and downright weird. And they often highlight local makers, beloved landmarks, and regional pride.
If the thought of sending out tons of cards to folks near and far during the annual holiday chaos is overwhelming (over 1.3 billion cards are sent during the Christmas season), consider making an individual connection, with year-round opportunities for sending snail mail, like birthday wishes or other occasions, such as National Letter Writing Day (Dec. 7), National Send a Card to a Friend Day (Feb. 7), Stationery Store Day (first Saturday in August), or World Letter Writing Day (Sept. 1).
Consider this your invitation to do the write thing while supporting Kansas City businesses and spreading good cheer one letter (or postcard!) at a time.
Hammerpress
Hammerpress, a letterpress and design studio, has been around for 30 years. Founded by KCAI graduate Brady Vest, the business creates beautiful letterpress cards for all occasions, posters, and custom projects.
Products are made in their West Bottoms studio and retail space. Walking through the bright yellow doors, you’re greeted by the thump of the letterpress machines in time to the tunes playing overhead. Two inoperable printers in the retail area add to the industrial chic vibe of the place, and allow you a closer look (don’t touch!) at the machines that make the magic.
As Hammerpress explains on their website, “letterpress printing is the process of using metal or wood type that is inked and pressed against paper. It is a relief printing technique that produces an impression in the paper making it distinctively different from offset printing.”
The shop contains a range of stationery supplies, home goods, wearables, wall art, concert posters, as well as greeting cards both by Hammerpress and a small selection of other brands.
You can also see some of their custom work on display, with clients like Boulevard Brewing Co., West 18th Street Fashion Show, and Mildred’s Coffee House. (Full disclosure: KCUR was also a previous customer, but our reporting is editorially independent.)
You can also find Hammerpress products at local retailers like Made In KC Marketplace and Whole Foods Market.
- 1413 W 11th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64101
May Day Paper & Post
May Day Paper & Post opened on May 1, 2023 (aka May Day) on Westport Road, right next to Café Corazón. A sign on the corner directs passersby: “Cute Stationery This Way.”
Founded by Ally May, the name is not just a play on her name but also a celebration of her memories growing up in rural Missouri. May Day “marks the beginning of summer for farmers as it's the day between the spring equinox and June solstice,” she explains.
“May Day was a celebration complete with the May Pole, dancing, and crafts. We would craft small baskets of paper and ribbon, pack them with candies and wildflowers before leaving them anonymously on neighbors' doors. It was my first memory of creating a gift by hand with the sole purpose of brightening someone's day.”
May — a self proclaimed “paper person” — attended UMKC and lived in Kansas City for about eight years, then moved to the East Coast. It was there that she became used to having “a thoughtfully curated independent card shop or stationery store around the corner.”
But when she returned to Kansas City in 2020, she couldn’t find the breadth and depth selection she craved. “The idea for an independent card shop with cards from small printers and American artists with real messages for life's real moments was born,” says May.
The shop boasts an inventory of over 700 cards—with nearly 99% of their vendors from small studios and makers, artists and printers—as well as cute and functional imported stationery, planners, and notebooks. If you’re lucky, you’ll be greeted by Lucy the shop dog (sometimes in costume!), who can help “sniff out the perfect card” for any occasion.
- 1715 Westport Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64111
Truly Madly Depot
Across the state line is another shop dog, Dolly Parton-Hoppock, who reigns at Truly Madly Depot in Mission, Kansas. The shop was founded by wife-and-husband team Kimberly and Matthew Hoppock and opened in early 2024 on Johnson Drive.
Walking in, it’s a wonderland of wow, the walls painted with a fanciful floral and mycological mural by artist Morgan Elliott of Wild Peach Studio.
They have an eclectic selection of cards, gifts, stationery supplies and seasonal items, as well as a variety of items by Kansas City artists and makers. There are also imported cards, notebooks, and notepads along with a recent shipment of Japanese letter writing sets, stock from Scottish artist David Shrigley, fashion accessories and literally hundreds of stickers to zhuzh up just about anything.
- 5727 Johnson Drive, Mission, KS 66202
Wonder Fair
While a short drive outside of Kansas City, failing to mention Wonder Fair in Lawrence, Kansas, would be a disservice to all the stationery-lovers in the region.
Wonder Fair was founded in 2008 by Eric Dobbins as an exhibition space. In 2011, Meredith Moore and Paul DeGeorge bought the business and, with the move to its current location on Mass Street in 2015, began selling stationery supplies.
The eclectic shop is now a go-to place for local letter writers: the “print palace of the great plains.” It boasts a tremendous selection of cards, prints, pens and pencils (so many!), arts and crafts supplies, journals, planners, books, zines and more. And true to its origins, Wonder Fair still has an exhibition space, featuring local artists.
What’s more, there’s a huge cult following for Dave, the shop cat, who reigns supreme, lounging from window seat to under-desk-basket and is featured on various products, including t-shirts and the annual DAVE calendar (proceeds benefit the Lawrence Humane Society).
The shop also lays claim to a “famous” haunted bathroom (free to visit during open hours or click here to visit virtually). Listen to the “Sounds from the Haunted Bathroom” or, for some electric ambiance, “Sounds of Wonder Fair.”
Recently, Wonder Fair, along with artist Randy Regier, opened the satellite store Secure Attachments, a niche shop for all your paper connecting needs (staplers and more!), around the corner on 9th Street.
- 841 Massachusetts Street, Lawrence, KS 66044
Shops near and far
You can find other local card and stationery shops (or independent shops with substantial card representation) all around the metro, all women-run:
- Literally in a closet, Supply Closet is located inside Garden House Café in the Shawnee Heights neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, with new and reclaimed (vintage and dead stock) stationery for “design lovers and dopamine desk decorators.”
- Bought by Becci Meissner in 2012, RSVP in the Village specializes in customized products for weddings, corporate gifts, and invitations, along with stationery, gifts and party supplies.
- Cuorebella in Mission Farms has a range of stationery and boxed card sets, but what sets them apart is the personalized watercolor stationery service, as well as watercolor workshops with owner Trish Podlasek.
- Though it’s more of a party store, mother-and-daughters-run Pink Antlers in Park Place has a large selection of cards for all occasions, as well as planners, notepads, and desk accessories.
- Owned by sisters Michelle and Angie Dreher, Two Tone Press does a lot of custom invitation work, and they are also co-founders of Print League Kansas City, which has a range of paper-focused creative workshops.
We mentioned Made In KC Marketplace earlier, and there you can also find a selection of cards from local makers like Carly Rae Studio and Ampersand Design Studio (which also has a brick-and-mortar location in Waldo).
Other out-of-town stationery shops include Ruff House Print Shop and Paperie, in Lawrence, Kansas, which designs their own products and does custom orders, and Manic Snail, in St. Joseph, Missouri.
Some larger shopping options
Of course, Kansas City is home and headquarters of Hallmark, so there are quite a few Hallmark retail locations in the area, but company founder Joyce Hall was once an independent maker himself. The Hallmark Visitors Center, in Crown Center, is worth a visit to learn more about the local history of card design.
Along with Hallmark, there are a few other national chains worth acknowledging in a greeting card round-up.
Paper Source, based in Chicago and now merged with Barnes & Noble, has a standalone location in the Country Club Plaza, with an array of card-making supplies, gifts, gift wrapping, and greeting cards.
Blick Art Materials, on Main Street, and Artist & Craftsman Supply, in the Crossroads, carry plenty of paper materials to aid you in your personal correspondence vision, as well as a selection of greeting and post cards.
Iowa-based, Midwest-celebratin’ RAYGUN opened a Kansas City location in 2014, down the street from Barkley (the iconic TWA rocket is featured in Raygun’s limited edition book “A Spaceman Saves Kansas City”). What started off as a screen-printed t-shirt side hustle now includes 10 locations across the region selling cards, posters, and other Raygun-designed goodies that boldly assert a Midwest-is-best sensibility.
And one final note: If you, like me, easily confuse “stationery” with “stationary” (immobile), try remembering that stationery goes in an envelope.
