Her passion project is paper

BENSON — ColorPop Paper Co. was Abbey Butler’s way of turning her dream into a reality.

This past school year, Butler had to complete a “passion project” for a class at Meredith College, where she was a senior majoring in graphic design. “That project consisted of picking a market and creating a brand for it,” she explained.

While interning at Paperbuzz, a gift shop in Raleigh’s North Hills, Butler discovered her passion for paper products, especially stationery. “I absolutely loved it,” she said. “I loved creating different types of stationery because graphic design is such a wide range of things. You can create anything, so it was kind of just finding that niche of what I wanted to create.”

And that’s how ColorPop, a stationery and gift shop, became her passion project. “I came up with what I wanted to carry and what exactly ColorPop would be,” she said.

Then in May, when Butler graduated from Meredith, she decided to take the dream from the classroom to a downtown Benson storefront.

“I just decided to make it happen,” she said. “ I love stationery, and I love working with individual people, whether it be wedding parties, corporations or whatever they might need.”

ColorPop specializes in personalized stationery.

“If someone has an event coming up, they can shoot me an email telling me what they’re looking for, and I can send them some design options,” Butler said.

People can also come into the shop at 102 N. Market St. “A lot of people don’t know exactly what they’re looking for, and they kind of need that guidance,” Butler said. “I do have in-house papers and envelopes so that they can kind of touch and feel the samples to help them decide on what they want.”

Custom orders can be for anything from invitations to napkins, cups, notepads and cards. ColorPop also has bags, drink ware, home accents, jewelry and apparel.

“My in-store items consist of gifts, bags and minimal clothing,” Butler said. “I was seeing the trends and seeing what girls my age were looking for.”

“I carry gifts, cards and bags that are ready to go,” she added. “Everyone has a last-minute event where they just need to grab a card before going somewhere. So I definitely wanted to have cards available and ready-to-go stationery for if you just need something quick to write a thank-you note.”

Butler said she wanted her business in Benson because of the community. “I’ve watched business owners support each other,” she said. “This was a prime reason why I wanted to move back here, because you can open a business anywhere, but the community around you is very important. You need that support.”

“Everyone has been excited, and they’ve been super supportive,” Butler added. “They’re glad to have something new in Benson. It is exciting to see the town grow and support each other.”

ColorPop Paper Co. is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The shop is online at colorpoppaperco.com and on Facebook.

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