Embrace Snail Mail with Chez Gagne

Some of you may remember that my friend Alex has a greeting card business called Chez Gagne.  But let me tell a little more of Alex’s story.

In 2014, I was getting ready to move to Spokane, and Alex had just moved to L.A., but she was back in town for an event.  So we’re hanging out in the lobby of a hotel in Foggy Bottom while Alex finishes a spreadsheet for her boring office job, when she looks up from her computer and says, “I just want to create something.  I want to build a fun brand and be like Oprah, if he Oprah swore this much.”

Not long after, Alex took a letterpress class and loved it.  So she started designing cheeky greeting cards and wine tags and making them on a rented press in someone’s garage.  And Chez Gagne was born.

Five years later, she has a growing business, five employees, and an expanding product line.  Every time we talk, you can feel her passion for the business.   And after her daughter, Jonni, was born a few months ago, there she was on Instastories, with her baby in a Solli wrap, shipping out orders from her warehouse.

So when the virus hit, and the economy tumbled, and purchases got pared down to the essentials, I knew her business would suffer.  But while greeting cards may not seem like an essential, during these tough times, what could be better than sending a few fun cards to your friends?  The mail still runs, and grocery stores have stamps, so let’s bring snail mail back!

Can’t celebrate a friend’s engagement with a fun night out?  Grab a card.

Have a friend quarantining solo who could really use a pick me up?  Remind her how much she means to you.

Know a Mom currently doing her job, educating her children, disciplining her children, entertaining her children, and trying not to kill her children while keeping them safe from the plague?   Breakfast Wine coffee mug or the Children Are Savages card.

Did your sister pick up a Schitt’s Creek binge watching habit thanks to COVID-19?  We got you.

Alex’s shop is offering 20% off with code Thirtyish.  And she’s throwing in one of her ‘Reasons I Can’t Leave the House’ cards with every order.   Note the once in a lifetime (hopefully) customization she is adding to reflect our current predicament.

It’s time to look out for each other and support small businesses, and Chez Gagne is one of my favorites.  So if you want to send someone a card that will make them smile and give them a little hope, definitely do.  Because this is going to get worse before it gets better.