I hope your 4th quarter is off to a great start! For many in our industry, this is the busiest season of the year – with lots of holiday product now being shipped to retailers, and new orders and reorders being placed with vendors.
 
Autumn is also a busy time for those of us at the NSS. The sales team is hard at work signing returning exhibitors as well as booking new companies into their spaces for the May 2018 Show. We’ve got some terrific new talent coming into the NSS as first-time exhibitors, as well as great longtime exhibitors that have been in the Show for many years.
 
I’m so excited to see the Show coming together! And, speaking of coming together, I believe passionately that the NSS provides an unparalleled venue for the stationery industry to convene once a year to share ideas, to network, and to socialize with one another. Here, new industry friends are made and important business relationships are forged each year.
 
I hope you already know that you’ll be attending the NSS next May. I promise there will be lots of "new" for you to discover! For now, I wish you a great start to the fall season. Please be in touch at any time of the year! I welcome the conversation.  

Red Barn Mercantile

Red Barn Mercantile is a gift and home store in Alexandria, VA, with an incredibly varied merchandise mix. "We sell everything from sofas and rugs to cookbooks and cards," says the store's president, Amy Rutherford. Since moving to its current location in 2012 and introducing paper goods to its mix, Red Barn's stationery business has grown by leaps and bounds. "So much so, that we expanded and opened a new stationery store this year," Rutherford says. Here's what else she has to share about her thriving business:
 
1. Red Barn Mercantile opened its doors in historic Old Town Alexandria, VA, on September 1, 2007, and recently celebrated a decade in business. Exactly 10 years and 10 days later, we opened our second store – a stationery store – just half a block away called Penny Post.
 
2. When asked to define our style, I say we are a "jeans and T-shirt" kind of a store. We offer a casual and relaxed way of living that is still jam-packed with style. Linen sofas and letterpress cards blend beautifully together.
 

3. We love Alexandria for its walkable streets, amazing shops, great restaurants, and historical relevance. Alexandria is quite literally George Washington’s hometown.
 
4. At Red Barn, we are a big family. Kathy, the store’s manager, and Blair have been with us for almost nine years. We have been through Eagle Scout ceremonies, weddings, CPA exams, and numerous college graduations together. They are my rock, and I am so lucky to have them!
 
5. We have a big old work table that has been with us since we opened. One day, a prop stylist was in the store and asked to rent it – along with a few other pieces that we have since sold – for a movie they were shooting. Our table made its big-screen debut in “J. Edgar” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Clint Eastwood.

What do you do to make your company and business environmentally friendly?

"As an international distributor of paper and envelopes, environmental sensitivity informs almost all of our business decisions. The most effective of these is our supplier selection. All of our suppliers must adhere to strict guidelines designed to minimize our carbon footprint above and beyond local and federal guidelines. This includes seeking out suppliers using renewable energy solutions and sustainable-forest resources. Announcement Converters' increasing range of recycled, carbon neutral, and bleach- and color-free papers makes it simple for customers to make informed choices. We are also expanding our offerings into sustainable substrates such as bamboo and hemp."

– Jeff Greene, CEO, Owner, Announcement Converters, headquartered in Miami, FL, is the U.S. distributor of GMUND Leather – the world's first paper with a genuine texture of natural leather. 
 

"We pride ourselves on the quality of our printing methods, paper and envelopes to ensure that our unique designs are produced in a way that is beautiful, eco-friendly and of the highest quality. All Dear Hancock paper goods are printed on recyclable, FSC-approved, Green-e certified, heavyweight paper stock. Our envelopes are sourced from a hydro-electric paper mill, and all of our products are printed locally in California."

– Gwendolyn Mason and Earnest Merritt, Owners, Dear Hancock, a design studio in Los Angeles, CA, which creates hand-painted paper goods inspired by nostalgia, humor, and everyday life.
 

"We have made it a priority to be as environmentally friendly as possible. We have eliminated nearly all plastic from our products, offering recyclable, paper alternatives instead. For example, rather than plastic covers for our planners, we offer adhesive paper pockets that you can use anywhere in your planner. We also provide reuse suggestions for our products on our website and on social media. Our products are made from recyclable paper and use environmentally friendly inks. We reuse or recycle the corrugated cartons our products are shipped in and have a recycling program available to our entire office park."

– Shawn Dickensheets, Sales Manager, TF Publishing, based in Indianapolis, IN, which specializes in calendars, planners and stationery covering the gamut of on-trend style.
 

"When it comes to the environment, we do have measures in place to make sure our products and processes are both friendly to the planet. Our journals are created using cotton or linen covers. The internal pages use a wood-free paper. Both of these options cost us more to produce our products, but we see them as important measures in our product development. We reuse boxes to pack orders so have minimal rubbish, and we recycle everywhere we can."

– Anna and Nicoletta Constanti, Owners, Write To Me, located in Melbourne, Australia, which creates a range of guided journals, planners, and other stationery items.

DIY Kits

Perhaps it's a hands-on, old-school backlash to technology, or maybe it's just a great form of escapism from today's stressed-out world. Whatever the reason, the trend of do-it-yourself craft kits continues to grow in popularity among customers of all ages. Here are just a few NSS exhibitors offering kits for creating artful, DIY projects that are fun and easy to do.

Winners of the U.K.'s "Henries" Awards Announced

The winners of "The Henries" 2017 greeting card awards were announced on October 5 at a lavish awards event held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, England. Organized by Progressive Greetings, The Henries honor innovative greeting card ranges and suppliers. Among the winners was Flair from Hotchpotch, which took top honors for Best Contemporary Trend Range – a category that was sponsored by the NSS. For a complete list of winners, click here.
 

NRF Forecasts Holiday Sales to Increase

The National Retail Federation announced that it expects holiday retail sales in November and December – excluding automobiles, gasoline and restaurants – to increase between 3.6 and 4 percent for a total of $678.75 billion to $682 billion, up from $655.8 billion last year. Christmas falls 32 days after Thanksgiving this year, one day more than last year, and is on a Monday instead of a Sunday, giving consumers an extra weekend day to complete their shopping.

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