Matea Verzi once had exactly one place in mind for a childhood birthday party: Office Depot. The pens, notebooks and stacks of paper goods on the shelves mesmerized her as a kid, and now that same fascination is about to become her livelihood as she readies the opening of Write On!, a new stationery store at 919 Barret Ave. in Louisville's Highlands neighborhood.
From Office Depot Dreams to Her Own Storefront
According to the Louisville Courier Journal, Verzi is gearing up to open Write On! after years of loving the tactile pull of pens and paper. As the paper puts it, Verzi gets to have something of a party every day as she readies the shop's opening. The fixation started early: as a kid, all the different pens at Office Depot were mesmerizing to her, not to mention the notebooks and other stationery lining the aisles.
That early obsession has now turned into a business plan on Barret Avenue, a stretch of the Highlands known for its mix of small shops and restaurants. Verzi's new venture joins a wave of independent stationery retailers finding their footing even as some bigger chains have struggled — Papyrus shuttered all of its U.S. stores in 2020, and Paper Source filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021, according to Retail Dive.
Opening Amid Road Construction on Barret Avenue
Write On!'s debut is arriving alongside a major redesign of the street it calls home. Per WLKY, Verzi is preparing for the grand opening of what that station identifies as Write On Stationery and Fine Writing, and she has mixed feelings about the timing of the roadwork nearby. “I kind of wished they would have maybe done this in the spring instead of in the fall, when it's going to have such a huge impact on the businesses,” Verzi told the station.
Still, Verzi isn't entirely against the changes coming to the corridor. “I am really excited for there to be a bike lane,” she said, according to the same report. The construction project is expected to wrap up by November, giving nearby merchants a defined end point to plan around.
A Broader Analog Revival Fuels Indie Shops
Write On! is opening into a moment when pens and paper are having something of a cultural moment. Retail Dive notes that indie stationery retailers are cashing in on consumer interest in specialty goods even as bigger competitors falter, with some of that appetite tied to journaling and mental-health practices that pull people away from screens. The category itself has expanded well beyond basic notebooks, encompassing customized greeting cards, specialty paper, Japanese pens, washi tape, day planners and sticky notes.
Forbes contributor Kate Hardcastle has described the shift as stationery moving from a practical necessity into coveted lifestyle objects, prized for beauty, craftsmanship and mindfulness. The pandemic pushed many people toward handwriting, journaling and calligraphy as outlets for self-expression, and social media platforms including TikTok and Instagram have since amplified the trend through desk-setup content and handwriting tutorials, according to Forbes. Hardcastle points to Gen Z and millennial shoppers as key drivers of the shift, drawn to tangible, personal products despite the convenience of digital tools. The global stationery products market was valued at roughly $147.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to climb to $213.7 billion by 2034, growing at a 3.8% compound annual rate, per Hardcastle's reporting.
Similar Shops Cropping Up Elsewhere
Louisville isn't alone in seeing new pen-and-paper shops take root. In Massachusetts, Conway resident Alexis Arcaro opened Works on Paper, a stationery store at 16 Miles St. in Greenfield, that also sells art books, zines, journals and trinkets, the Recorder reported. That roughly 600-square-foot shop, which officially opened Aug. 1, lets customers test various pens and pencils at stations set up around the store.
Back in Louisville, Write On! is poised to give local shoppers their own outlet for that same tactile browsing experience — the kind Verzi once found irresistible enough to want as a birthday destination. Whether the shop settles into the neighborhood smoothly may depend partly on how quickly the Barret Avenue construction clears out, but for now, Verzi's focus is on turning a lifelong fascination with pens and paper into a storefront of her own.
