Paperworks to end 21-year run on Route 1

Thursday, Aug. 17, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Barbara L. Salisbury⁄The Gazette Lisa Holt has owned and operated Paperworks in College Park for 21 years, but the store will be closing its doors at the end of the month. Although she has had since the beginning of the year to prepare for the closing, Holt said, ‘‘I’m going to cry when I lock the door [on the last day].”

Twenty-one years later, Lisa Holt, the energetic entrepreneur, is saying goodbye to a loyal customer base of city natives and college students who looked to Paperworks for the best, brightest – and sometimes risqué – party supplies.

As her store’s rent is set to skyrocket from $4,500 a month to $7,000 a month after Aug. 31, Holt, now 40 and a mother of two, is closing Paperwork’s doors for the final time later this month. Having more time for her family and less time worrying about inventory and employees’ shifts, Holt said, is a welcomed change.

Still, imagining life after Paperworks brings tears to her eyes.

‘‘It’s sad,” said Holt, a University Park resident, as a handful of University of Maryland College Park students casually sifted through birthday cards and gag gifts at Paperworks. ‘‘I’m going to miss my customers. ... They’ve seen me get married and have my kids – they’ve seen me grow up.”

Living just south of the city, Holt plans on being more involved as a board member of the Downtown College Park Merchants Association (DCPMA) – to which she credits her rejuvenated sense of civic responsibility.

‘‘I love College Park,” Holt said with a laugh, quoting a slogan coined by the city. ‘‘College Park is my life. It always has been. I just want to see businesses succeed in College Park.”

Holt, who has coordinated and designed balloon arrangement throughout the city, including the university, said she would continue to head design ventures after the retail portion of Paperworks closes.

With her rent scheduled to rise, Holt said retail sales would not be able to fund the hike. Stores like Target and the advent of Internet shopping, she said, have slowly chipped away at retail profits.

‘‘People aren’t coming to College Park to do their shopping anymore, and it’s really hurting the independent retailer,” she said. ‘‘I’ve done a lot of good for the city. I care about the city. If you have a big corporation come into [Paperworks’ location] ... managers are not going to be invested in the community.”

For longtime College Park business owners like Ted Ankeney, owner of Maryland Book Exchange for 41 years, the closure of Paperworks signals a loss for the city and its residents.

‘‘[Paperworks] is a unique shop and a destination point, and we don’t have too many destination points in the city,” said Ankeney, a DCPMA member. ‘‘People definitely go to College Park just to come to her shop.”

At 19, when many of her peers were starting their second year in college, Holt, using a loan from her father, opened a business and planted roots in the community that grew stronger throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Meeting her for the first time in 1985, Ankeney said the inexperienced teen had all the makings of a thriving businesswoman.

‘‘She was just so enthusiastic and has remained that way for 21 years,” he said. ‘‘We’re really gonna miss her around here.”

The store’s inventory has varied over the years, but many in College Park have turned to Paperworks come party time.

‘‘When I was younger, I definitely had more racy stuff,” said Holt, whose store includes adult games like Beer Pong, Shot Glass Pool and Chuggin’ Checkers, along with lip balm flavors like Bloody Mary, chocolate martini, mud slide and screwdriver.

Not exactly fit for family fun, Holt said, but perfect for a frat party.

Among the college students roaming the store last week was Maryland student Carolyn Crow, who reminisced about her frequent stops at Paperworks.

‘‘It has a much different selection of stuff than you find in other places,” said Crow, 21, pointing toward the array of birthday cards. ‘‘You can shop for your mom, your roommate, even your grandmother here.”

E-mail Dennis Carter at dcarter@gazette.net.