A well-known Columbia shop has rebranded and expanded offerings. Take a look
Sometimes a place is more than it’s name.
That’s certainly the case at If It’s Paper, the longtime shop at 1801 Gervais St. in Columbia, just a few blocks east of the University of South Carolina School of Law. While the business does, indeed, carry various types of paper, from envelopes to office paper and beyond, that’s only a sliver of what the store has to offer.
The Gervais Street shop has, for years, been a go-to spot for party supplies, catering supplies, invitations for all varieties of special occasions, gift packaging, various products and gifts emblazoned with South Carolina’s state flag, Gamecocks and Clemson souvenirs, balloons and more.
Now If It’s Paper is stepping into its next season. The shop has recently gone through a rebrand, of sorts, debuting a more open floor plan in its main shopping area, offering some new products, expanding existing retail offerings and launching a new Instagram page.
If It’s Paper was, for more than two decades, located on North Main Street in Columbia, and was formerly owned by International Paper. Culbertson bought the business in 2011, and in 2012 it moved to its current spot on Gervais Street. Culbertson also owns the If It’s Paper location in Greenville.
Culbertson noted that his longtime If It’s Paper partner and manager Lisa Ducom recently retired after many years with the company. As the shop was set to change leadership, Culbertson said he thought it was a good time for a refresh.
“When [Ducom] retired, we started looking at rebranding and just updating everything both in Columbia and the Greenville location,” said Culbertson, who owns a number of businesses in Columbia, including Gervais Street’s Blossom Shop.
In recent times, If It’s Paper has increased its offerings in regard to balloons. The move came after Party City, the national party supply retailer, announced in 2024 that it would be shuttering its stores across the nation, including its shops in the Midlands.
Culbertson said that left a gap in the party balloon market.
“I went to the Party City in Columbia and Greenville and met with them to find out what worked and what didn’t, and the consistent thing I heard from them was that balloons are huge and very few people are doing them,” Culbertson said. “So, we’ve tried to ramp up that and meet that demand, and expand that market, too.”
Haley Young recently has taken over as the manager of If It’s Paper and has helped guide the shop through its revamp.
“We changed the layout of the store, opened it up and changed it to some more displays, so you could kind of see our products a little bit better, and where you can be inspired, as well as shop for the things you know and love,” Young told The State on a recent tour of the shop. “We have a lot of staple products that people know that we sell and they come for regularly, but we also wanted to expand to other things, well.”
Young noted part of that expansion is offering more gift items, as well as selling more catering supplies. Young said that local bakers, in particular, often come to the shop to get boxes, plates and more for the transportation of their goods.
While paper and various paper products remain a big part of the business, Young notes If It’s Paper’s full complement of offerings transcend the shop’s moniker.
“We have had our front windows redone, with our new logo and our hours, and all the things we sell are kind of listed out there in bullets, to give you an idea as you are driving by,” Young said. “Yes, it’s paper, but it’s party and it’s balloons and it’s invitations and its cards. It’s definitely more than paper. There are a lot of paper products and literal paper, but there are a lot of other things, too.”
