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Where to get greeting cards that aren't made by Hallmark

So Hallmark bows to bigots? Matt Frank is compiling a list of places to get locally made, bigotry-free greeting cards and stationery:

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and make your own

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I guess you mean by sending an e-card you're saving a tree?

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Don't know what the OP meant, but to me it means re-purpose some paper products that you already have lying around.

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Porter Square Books

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Papersource (A-B block of Boylston)

LovePop (Prudential and I think Faneuil Hall) - works of art and engineering!

Papyrus (also in the Pru and one of my favorite go to card stores - discounts for several cards and if you join their club)

Birch Street House and Garden in Roslindale Square

...And many, many more.

SNL had a spot on this on Weekend Update last night - Google it and I'll leave it to you if you think it's funny.

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Paper Source is owned by Hallmark... just saying.

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According to wikipedia, paper source is owned by a private equity group. Could be somehow related but I don't see anything like that online.

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So Paper Source is where things get complicated. They are not owned by Hallmark but rather are the largest inpendent Hallmark Gold retailer that is not owned by Hallmark in the country.

"The Paper Store is a proud Hallmark partner, which ties in to the backbone of our company’s mission -- to commit and provide stellar service to all Hallmark Gold Crown customers and provide the offerings they know and expect from Hallmark."
https://www.thepaperstore.com/about-us

From their own website. I have not been in one for years so I am not sure if they sell others cards but I do know they sell other non Hallmark items.

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The Paper Store may be a Hallmark Retailer, but Paper Source is a paper and gift product company originally from Chicago.

I can see how it happens, but I recommend not confusing the two.

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There’s The Paper Source, which doesn’t sell anything Hallmark and is a great alternative.

Then there’s The Paper Store, which is connected to Hallmark as described above (the Medford location actually has a giant hallmark sign on their awning).

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Sorry, I confused Paper Store with Paper Source. I was wrong, my bad!

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Lots of people selling all kinds of cards there.

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Gifted in the South End has a huge selection of cards made by local/US artists!

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Gifted has great cards, many locally made. It's great to shop local.

That said, I'm getting tired of cancel culture. The conservatives acted very poorly by complaining to Hallmark. Hallmark was weak to cave. And boycotting Hallmark over this seems lame, too. Plus- I bet most people who bitch on social media, will still buy a Hallmark at CVS anyway when crunch time hits.

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I would disagree in your assesment that this is cancel culture in action... boycotts have been an American tradition to influence corporate and government policy for decades.

Cancel culture focuses more on the individuals. For instance if you give me a Hallmark card and I "cancel you" for giving me the card and try to get others to shun you for the action , that would be cancel culture. Not buying at a major company that bent to the will of religious zealots is not cancel culture at all. I am not saying they should lose their lease, I am not saying they should be fined, I am not saying they should be retaliated against in any way. I just want to choose to buy my cards and other items from retailers who respect me.

I would also point out in this that this is not even a call for more representation. We are not looking at Hallmark channel , noticing their lack of LGBTQ ness and then pushing for more. We are reacting to someone PAYING to have their ad run and then having that ad removed based off of it being two women kissing and not a man an a woman.

As for what people will do at crunch time, that is why I am trying to be proactive. People are sharing resources where cards can be obtained. I am a photographer and in theory would have been capable of producing cards but it does not make sense to activate that machine now but I can help those who already printed their cards up. I will most likely just use my own design for my own cards this year (something anyone with a smart phone and access to Walgreens or CVS can do with their own images.)

I do not boycott easily, I tend to wait for what I see as egregious affronts to things I believein. For instance one of my longest running boycotts has been with Yuengling. Not just because of their stance on unions in their own facility but for their proactive attacks on unions across PA and the country. I decided they were not worth my money or time. If I go to a bbq and they are serving it I will make sure to drink something else. If I know the people well I may comment on it but most likely will not drive down the party, I do not "cancel" the host for not standing on the same ground as me but I sure will not pay into their coffers. As for places like Chic-Fil-A I have no real view because I have no real access to them so it is irrelevant what I think.

I apologize for the long response but I think it is important that we do not use buzz words or phrases just because they are the word of the moment. We see that same thing happened with words like Woke.

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I appreciate the distinctions. Especially that you won't shun someone who sends you a Hallmark. Thanks.

. Cancel culture focuses more on the individuals. For instance if you give me a Hallmark card and I "cancel you" for giving me the card and try to get others to shun you for the action , that would be cancel culture.

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I wonder if there is a disconnect between those that run the channel vs those that run the cards side of the business. The Hallmark website shows they have a lot of non-gendered wedding cards and about 4 two brides cards. I didn't look at the two grooms grouping to see how many specifically stated cards there are (vs the non-gendered ones), but I would expect similar low numbers.

Perhaps the low card count allowed for those upset at the commercial to not even know that Hallmark had them. Or there could be a disconnect between the two units withing the greater Hallmark company. Or any number of things.

Nonetheless, I appreciate learning about more of the locally offered wares! I knew about a number of them and am happy to learn of more.

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Hallmark is the parent company of the parent company of Hallmark Channel. So I am willing to give their executives slack in the sense that they were not directly involved in this decision. I also think the folks at Hallmark mothership would never have made that decision and would never have said what the Hallmark Channel people said.

Hallmark Channel finds its roots in religious programming. Initially created in the early 90s as a joint venture between a few different groups it changed over time as it was aquired or morphed. Until the late 90s when it became an actual channel outside of religious purposes and finally in 2003 when it became Hallmark Channel. The thing is over the years it still kept a portion of its followers as religion was slowly winnowed away from it but the "values" never left. This is the channel that had Davy the clarmation character. Parents of a certain type still deemed it as a safe zone (ABC Family had a similar story) which kept viewers away from the violence and sex that permeated much of the rest of tv. That also meant, at the time, avoiding things like gayness. So it never quite caught up with the times when the gay rights movement lurched forward.

The issue is that Hallmark, as the parent company, meanwhile went about courting gay card buyers. They by many accounts have a good score with the HRC and others. They have LGBTQ cards. They never really bothered to reach back into their other holdings to ensure this was a universal aspect to their business. So on one side of the business are gay people and their allies happily buying up stuff at an HRC approved store while at the same time executives at Hallmark Channel are running around trying to pacify people who see any sign of gayness as a sign of sexuality that needs to be buried. It is should be noted that Hallmark Channel balked at even thinking that they did something wrong , it was not until Hallmark mothership stepped in and put their foot down that the situation was reversed. I can only imagine what the situation was like at Hallmark HQ because a more controlled method of handling this would have been to strongarm Hallmark Channel into making the announcement and then having it shared up the tree, Hallmark HQ just literally stomped on the channel. I imagine some careers are pretty much at the end of their lines now and others may not last much longer once the cloud settles. HQ gave them a lot of leeway because they brought in a nice niche demographic, I bet they take more interest in everything at Hallmark Channel in 2020.

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That said, I'm getting tired of cancel culture.

You don't know what cancel culture is.

And boycotting Hallmark over this seems lame, too.

Come back when it's considered socially acceptable and a sound business decision, even for a hot minute, to treat your entire demographic as pariahs. Until then, you have no grounds for commenting.

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My apologies if my opinion or my understanding of a topic ever differs from yours.

Come back when it's considered socially acceptable and a sound business decision, even for a hot minute, to treat your entire demographic as pariahs. Until then, you have no grounds for commenting.

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...you don't get to have your own facts.

When the so-called "American Family Association", formerly known as the National Federation for Decency, targets your demographic, I'll consider your opinion on an act of resistance to them to have some merit.

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There are quite a few folks who make fun, edgy, and some rather traditional art cards that not only say "hi" but are frameable.

And then there is IKEA, which sells them to support UNICEF.

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According to the latest update to the AP article in the Globe ( Updated December 14, 2019, 10:17 p.m.), it seems that Hallmark Channel will be reinstating the pulled ads.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2019/12/15/business/hallmark-channel-pulls-a...

This is an update to the original article, so the URL still has the old headline, but the article headline and test have been updated.

Probably still a good idea to support all those other great card sources mentioned.

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Hasn't it been at least 25 years since Disney and other major corporations looked at their consumer demographics and, when faced with similar boycott threats from intolerant "family" groups, decided the smart economic move was to embrace tolerance? But in 2020 Hallmark thought that a right-wing group is its consumer base?

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When "ONE MILLION MOMS" come screaming it takes a minute to realize that they're really only a couple thousand troglodytes (at most) of hardcore regressive conservatives.

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especially considering it's the hallmark channel, whose main demographic is women ages 20-45 watching tropey christmas romances. the homophobia motivation isn't super strong in that particular set of viewers.

completely stupid. at least Zola (which provides a useful tool doing what they say they're going to) got a good boost out of all the press

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As noted by Jared Bowen on Boston Public Radio, the museum shops have lovely greeting cards.

Would also add Bob Slate in Harvard Square, Arlington Centered, and Davis Squared.

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