By Cynthia Hooper
For the Salisbury Post
SALISBURY — There is certainly not any extra time for a celebration with everything Caniche has going on these days, but celebrating is just what they were doing this past week, when marking the fifth anniversary of the downtown business.
They are also adding a new invitation and stationery department to the store and have just moved their fine consignment business to a new location.
When Judy Isenhour closed her last Pleasant Papers’ location at the end of February, her invitation and stationery business needed a new home.
“I knew for a long time we would eventually want to take it over when Judy retired. We had conversations about it over the past few years and I think it is perfect fit,” said Missie Alcorn of Caniche.
“It works with everything we have here at Caniche. We fulfill a lot of custom orders and it is a match for us to take it on,” Alcorn added. “We strive really hard to have great customer service. We focus on making every customer happy.”
Isenhour is still going to be part of the design process and will be fulfilling custom orders that can be done in-house. She will continue in that capacity until someone can be trained to run the machines. Unfortunately, there are no manuals for someone to learn by. Isenhour has 25 years of knowledge all in her head that needs to be harnessed so the next person can try to do the same high quality job she has. Isenhour is moving 25 years of her customer files to Caniche as well, making it easy for previous customers to contact them regarding any past printing projects.
“It is not just the fancy papers we are bringing to Caniche, but Judy and her years of expertise,” Alcorn said. Alcorn knows about Isenhour’s expertise since she printed her wedding invitations as well as the birth announcements when both of her children were born.
Everything for the stationery business has been moved into the second floor space at Caniche, which once housed the Tea Room and for the last year has been used by Alcorn for her fine consignment business. All of the machinery and nearly 100 boxes of stationery stock still need to be unpacked and organized. Alcorn hopes to have the new stationery department up and running in the next few weeks, just in time for wedding season. Caniche also offers a wedding registry and will be doing engraving of items such as frames and gifts.
In addition to the stationery business, Caniche is also going to carry some of the gift lines that Pleasant Papers’ customers were so fond of, including, Caspari, William Arthur, Caldrea, Colonial Candle and Crabtree & Evelyn. They also plan to add several more paper lines and hope to have the stationery options available at their online store at some point for home shopping.
Alcorn’s consignment business is also making a move, Fisher Street Interiors and Fine Consignment has opened at its new location at 111 West Fisher St. The new location combines Alcorn’s interior design business with the consignment previously located on the second floor at Caniche.
The Caniche building is also undergoing some exterior changes as well.
Bright pink awnings are adorning the windows as extensive faux painting is under way along the Fisher Street side of the building.
Customers can visit Caniche Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and online anytime at www.shopcaniche.com
Missie Alcorn can be reached at malcorn@shopcaniche.com or 704-638-5522