Greeting card and gifts chain Papyrus is closing all its stores, including six in Illinois, according to employees at two Chicago-area stores.
The employees said they were told last week that all stores were expected to close in the next four to six weeks. Closing sales have already begun in stores and online, the employees said.
Parent company Schurman Retail Group, based in Tennessee, could not immediately be reached for comment and has not publicly announced closures. Papyrus’ website says the chain has more than 260 stores in the U.S. and Canada.
According to retail news website Retail Dive, the company told employees it hired a liquidation firm to help with going-out-of-business sales and blamed “current challenges of the retail industry” for the decision to close.
Papyrus’ website lists six shops in Illinois, including locations in Chicago’s Loop neighborhood, The Shops at North Bridge and Water Tower Place and suburban stores at Oakbrook Center, Old Orchard and Northbrook Court malls.
![Enrique Rivera lived in Pilsen long before Time Out magazine named 18th Street one of the “Coolest Streets in the World” earlier this year. He was there decades before the upscale restaurants and walking tours around the neighborhood and before the luxury houses and condominiums brought thousands of new faces to the area, displacing many of its working-class immigrant population. The Pilsen that Rivera grew up in was plagued by street violence but deeply rich in muralism and immigrant-owned shops that shaped its strong Mexican identity. Despite the recent changes, nothing erodes the fabric of the community that has been […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CTC-L-pilsen-brewery-opening-23_189291508.jpg?w=525 "Enrique Rivera lived in Pilsen long before Time Out magazine named 18th Street one of the “Coolest Streets in the World” earlier this year. He was there decades before the upscale restaurants and walking tours around the neighborhood and before the luxury houses and condominiums brought thousands of new faces to the area, displacing many of its working-class immigrant population. The Pilsen that Rivera grew up in was plagued by street violence but deeply rich in muralism and immigrant-owned shops that shaped its strong Mexican identity. Despite the recent changes, nothing erodes the fabric of the community that has been […]")
