WICHITA — Brooke Carpenter has decided to return to the workforce, and that means Wichitans soon will have a new source for stationery and cards.
“It became clear to me that there was a gap in the market, that there wasn’t a place here to get fine stationery and paper products,” Carpenter says.
So she’s opening Adalee’s Paper Boutique in 1,400 square feet at NewMarket Square.
“We do so much online these days,” Carpenter says. “To get that special piece of paper, to get that special invitation in the mail, is becoming increasingly special.”
She and her husband, David, moved to Wichita from Washington, D.C., a couple of years ago when he took a job with Spirit AeroSystems.
Carpenter had been an event planner in Washington and enjoyed what she calls the “wedding process.” She also helped friends and clients with stationery on the side.
Since she’s been in Wichita, Carpenter has been staying home with her 3-year-old, Chloe, who has a rare genetic disorder.
“I decided it was time to get back to work,” Carpenter says. She still wants to be available for her daughter, which “was part of the reason that starting my business made more sense.”
Carpenter is naming the store for her husband’s late grandmother, whose wedding ring she wears.
“She was a really neat old lady,” Carpenter says. “Just a classic lady but really modern and trendy.”
That’s how she envisions her store, too.