Elizabeth Howard, owner of The Cordial Cricket (formerly Paper With Style), stands in front of the space in Festival Park in the Village Green where she will locate her business this summer.

Big changes are afoot for the former Paper With Style in Old Towne Petersburg: the store is changing both name and location.

The need for the name change for the stationery and gift boutique came shortly after the launch of Paper With Style’s online store in February 2008, when store owner Elizabeth Howard received a cease and desist letter from a similarly named online store in Georgia.

“We learned a very valuable lesson about the importance of getting a trademark on our business name,” says Howard. When she took down the original website, she began thinking of a new name for both online and physical versions of the store – and promised herself that the name would “definitely be researched and trademarked this time!”

Now, Paper With Style will be known as “The Cordial Cricket.” The renaming is part of a larger business plan to solve the ongoing space problem she has been experiencing since shortly after the business opened.

“Our growing customer base and sales have exceeded all of our expectations for our first year in business,” Howard says. Although she expanded the store earlier this year, its current 700 square footage is not ample enough to accommodate the inventory and space required for brides to peruse the numerous wedding invitation albums.

“We’re increasingly servicing a lot of brides with their wedding invitation and accessory needs,” Howard says. “We carry all of the latest paper styles and trends, as well as most of the traditional lines, and they want to see it all before selecting what will work best for them. Unfortunately, though, wedding invitation albums are huge, and we need a lot of elbow room to spread them all out.”

Though Howard loves Old Towne Petersburg and hopes to remain part of the city’s recent renaissance, her space requirements necessitate a move to Chester. The new location, in the Chester Village Green’s Festival Park, will double Howard’s available space.

 “On a personal level, this was such a difficult decision to make, because I absolutely love being in Old Towne and have made such wonderful friends down here,” Howard says. “But on a business level, I really didn’t have to think twice. This is definitely a move the business has to make if we are to continue to grow and service our clients in a professional way.”

The business will move to its new location this summer, and will maintain the distinctive paper and gift lines it currently carries, such as Crane & Co., Vera Bradley papers, Kate Spade Paper, Tea Forte, Page Stationery, The Paper Menu, and Business by the Bay. In addition, The Cordial Cricket will add many new complimentary lines to its offerings.

“We already have a very loyal, wide-spread customer base that is growing all the time,” Howard says. “My hope is that our customers will be excited about our move into a bigger store and that they will look forward to shopping our expanded inventory.”

Howard also maintains an extensive catalog of products for sale on the store’s website, www.thecordialcricket.com, and offers an electronic newsletter to keep her clients abreast of new merchandise, special offers, and sales.

The Cordial Cricket is currently located at 8 Bollingbrook St. in Petersburg and is open Tuesdays-Saturdays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call 733-0383 or visit thecordialcricket.com.

© Copyright by Village Publishing

Top of Page                                              Comment on This Article

The Village News office is located at 4607 West Hundred Road Chester
Mailing address is PO Box 2397 Chester, VA 23831
Phone: 751-0421  Fax: 751-9155
Office hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday - Friday call ahead for other hours.
Statement of Journalistic Ethics