A Sad Day for Carlton Cards
Written by Sandy Cameron
Carlton Cards Store, College Park, Toronto
Northern Cards pays tribute to an industry icon. We are saddened to learn of the closing of the Carlton Cards licensed stores. Back in the formative days of Northern Cards, we carefully studied the methods, operations and products of the well-established industry giants and that, of course, included Carlton Cards. Over the years, we have shared many fine employees and artists with Carlton.
The iconic Carlton brand was actually founded in Canada over a hundred years ago.
Even though Carlton Cards was purchased by American Greetings in 1956, the stores remained woven into the Canadian retail fabric.
It is most unfortunate that this has happened and Northern Cards expresses our appreciation for the role this benchmark brand's stores have fulfilled in the history of our industry. We, at Northern Cards, extend our compassionate regards to the store managers and sales associates who have given of themselves to Carlton Cards for many years.
On a brighter note, Carlton card-branded products will still be available at many fine retailers across Canada, including Bed Bath & Beyond, Indigo, Shoppers Drug Mart, Longo Brothers, The Bay, Loblaws, London Drugs, Whole Foods, Sobeys and more. You can find the Carlton Cards' store locator here.
Ms. Rook,
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are always pleased to hear from our friends at American Greetings.
Our blog was intended to be entirely complimentary and respectful to American Greetings. I have always held your brand in the highest regard. Our article was meant to celebrate the contribution that American Greetings has made and continues to make to our industry.
In reply to your specific point, ‘the [Carlton] stores are NOT affiliated with Carlton Cards Ltd.’ while I don’t believe our article ever mentioned anything about an affiliation, your remark might be confusing to our readers. While I understand that American Greetings’ partnership with Schurman Fine Papers did dilute their equity interest in their stores, our understanding was that American Greetings not only remained a significant shareholder, but also provided the stores with all their loan guarantees and their inventory.
With regards to your point that Carlton products are still available, absolutely, they most certainly are; in fact, if you read our article, we even provide the names of many of the fine retailers selling them, as well as a link to the store locator on your corporate website.
Perhaps it might be better for you or someone from your team to reach out to me privately instead of us having this conversation on a public forum. Our blog has always been meant to focus on positive stories in our industry. The last thing I would ever want was for something we have said to reflect poorly on one of the greatest pillars of that industry.
Warmest regards,
Jean-Paul Michael
Publisher,
Northern Cards Inc.,
jp.michael@northerncards.com
Note: While we didn’t mention ‘Schurman Fine Papers’ in our original article, American Greetings made reference to them in their comment. This link may be useful to our readers, so they can find out more about this: https://www.scribd.com/document/444118442/Schurman-Fine-Papers-bankruptcy-filing
You are aware that these stores are NOT affiliated with Carlton Cards Ltd., correct? They have been owned and operated by Schurman Fine Papers for years but kept the Carlton/American Greetings names. Carlton Cards Ltd is alive and well and producing the same Carlton product sold in these stores and in retailers across the country.