Paperbox

Seeing Paperbox as I slowly descended down the escallator in St Johns Centre made my heart skip a beat. As I approached it sunk. As a stationary fanatic, I thought it a personal insult to call a (sorry, if you read my reviews, I have a real hatred for tacky card shops) stationary shop something that could easily be mistaken for a paper shop, which in my opinion would be so so so much better.
The reality is that Paperbox is a below-​par car shop that I’m sure if you routed around long enough, would be able to sell you a semi-​decent card… you’ll have to really search though. If you need a card pronto, and don’t really care about what is on the front, this is probably a cheaper bet to Clinton’s accross the way.

This is normally the type of shop I pass by as I tend to choose expensive, diamanté, embellished… blah blah blah cards… Anyway, I decided to overlook my idea of whjat i’d find inside and found a few nice cards among the simple ones.
They do have some nice designs but they’re all pretty basic. Good for students on a budget but bad if you are looking for a really special card. I didn’t find what I wanted, but then again… Clintons didn’t offer any better across from it.

You can’t really argue with this shop — it certainly has a whole load of cards for sale. Bordering the shop, wall to wall, there are cards stacked up by category — Mother’s Day, Fathers’ Day, Birthday (and all the major ages), condolences, weddings, congratulations and more. There are plenty of options here, albeit very standard options.
The majority of their cards were as cheap as 99p, which is excellent if you are a little less than flush, although I will say that for that price you won’t get the most inspiring choices. As I was browsing I overheard a frustrated customer saying «All I want is a simple ‘to my sister’ card!»
They sell a number of other bits too, like gift wrap for a few pounds, and amusingly «ideal gifts», as they were labelled. I’m not sure why an empty tacky perfume bottle for £12.99 is an «ideal gift» but kudos for trying! At least they make an effort, right?
Anyhow. If you are stuck and that birthday is edging ever closer, this shop will sort it. But if you want something special, jog on.