Merchant's Art & Paper

We did wedding invitations, programs, etc. through a little place in East Bellevue called Merchant's. (Or maybe that is Redmond - right on the border) It is a small shop in a strip mall - not somewhere I would have walked into without a recommendation. It is directly adjacent to the Macy's furniture shop in Bellevue (close to Microsoft / Trader Joes/ Uwajamaia) Merchants was great. They were affordable, the service was fantastic, and they had a whole variety of papers and designs. We used handmade papers from India and Thailand and it was still quite affordable. We worked with a great young woman named Siobhan. I don't know whether she is still there, but I really liked everybody. more

They make custom wedding invitations and there is always someone in the store going through their samples binders. The examples on display in the store make it obvious that they're good at it. But, I designed my own kick-ass wedding invitations, so I just come here to play with the paper. They have a way better selection than The Paper Zone. I'm always especially impressed by the variety of colors in their individually sold envelopes. They carry a lot of Crane's stationery, but I think their real draw is that they have lots of really fancy (and expensive) paper which I've never had a reason to buy, including Washi paper. Because of the variety (and because of the invitation business), their scrap paper grab bags are better than the ones sold by any other paper store. They package them in color schemes, though, which means you have to buy more than one bag for the most variety. There's a very limited selection of art supplies, rubber stamps, punches, seals, etc. Go somewhere else for that stuff. Help is usually in the back room, but you can just poke your head in or ring one of the doorbells up at the cash register. more