Write Impressions

“Write Impressions is about life's details,” explains Cheryle Challe, owner of Write Impressions in historic downtown Oakville. Her enchanting shop, along with its sister locations in Leaside and in Waterloo, boasts a popularity and longevity that most retailers would trade their right arm for.

In 1986, Write Impressions was just about “everything paper,” as Cheryle describes it, but what began as a charming little card shop has expanded into so much more. The large Oakville location is divided into two shops within a shop: one devoted to writerly things like greeting cards, fine wrapping papers, journals and fountain pens, and the other to artfully displayed housewares, prints, furniture, gifts, candles and other pretty things, which Cheryle calls “lifestyle items.”

At her very first store Cheryle realized her greeting card customers had come to rely on her taste, so she made a tentative foray into selling other bits of merchandise that delighted her – things like decorative tea towels and Christmas PJs. It was a hunch that paid off – Cheryle's customers loved everything she loved. “Cards are still our mainstay here,” admits the savvy entrepreneur, but what separates Write Impressions from other paper shops is the variety of tantalizing items to explore.