Shopgirl (+ boy)

Uptown's new letterbox boutique is really just a simple boy-meets-girl story.

Zach Barocas was in a new band, living in New York City and attending film school after having spent most of the '90s performing as the drummer in Washington, DC post-punk stalwarts Jawbox. Kimberley Yurkiewicz was writing locally in Minneapolis, working at a record store, and helping run a letterpress studio, and simply asked him for an interview.

But don't let their pasts fool you: he wasn't just a drummer, and she wasn't just a record store clerk — he was a serious poet with an extensive knowledge and collection of books — poetry, art, design, the history of printing, some letterpressed on handmade papers. She was instantly smitten.

She, too, was old-school in all the right ways: proper hostessing and entertaining, matters of traditional etiquette, and conventional correspondence. She also maintained an abiding interest in all things music and design ... even collected typewriters. He was smitten, too.

Correspondents

"In one of our first emails," Kimberley recalls, "he wrote that he'd be glad to do the interview via email or phone, but he'd prefer to do it by post if he could choose. I wanted to run around doing cartwheels or jumping jacks or something. The idea of writing letters across the country to each other was impossibly romantic to me, even if it was just to talk about records and bands. Turns out, he loved mail in the same way I did. I felt like we hit the dork lottery."

Emails led to letters led to phone calls led to cross-country visits. Working at an art studio and a record store with little extra money, she would sell her then-prized possessions (records) for planefare. "I loved visiting him and hated leaving so much. I was so taken with New York; charmed by everyone's lives there. It was truly enchanting." Kimberley moved there soon after and a year later, they were engaged.

From working at hip, indie, Manhattan boutiques (Papivore for her, Greenwich Village's TLA Video for him) to proper New York job jobs (Crane & Co. for her, Corra Films for him), something was still missing.

After years in their favorite Brooklyn-Italian — now Brooklyn-hipster — neighborhood, Carroll Gardens, they've arrived here in Minneapolis with some New York sass, a keen sense of style, an eye for quality, a traditional approach to fine papers and printing and an extensive in-store iPod playlist to remind them from whence they came.

Corresponding Sense(s)

"I think there's something really great about loving Fifth Avenue and Sleater-Kinney," says Kimberley. "You can shop at Barney's and listen to Cat Power. New Yorkers do it all the time. I'd love to see more blending of tastes and styles here in Minnesota. And thanks to our years in this industry, as well as past endeavors, we truly have something to offer for everyone. If you've never written a thank you note, we'll inspire you. And if you are the customer who has had copper engraving dies in the family passed down for generations, and who perhaps wouldn't dream of shopping in Uptown, then we'll surprise you. Elegantly."

"But it's not stuffy," she is quick to point out. "With a slew of great designers and fresh colors, paper is wisely keeping up with fashion trends; and is sought and used like an accessory, not an office supply. It's a status-symbol. It's a personal signature."

She adds, "Handwritten correspondence is always special — it means something! It means someone took the time to create this thing for you, to send you this small gift. I love to think about our friends thinking of us, finding a great card or gorgeous paper and sitting down to write us a note. Picturing them walking down the street to drop it in the mailbox — what a treat!  Everything that is important to Zach and me can be whittled down to that seemingly simple string of events: the romance of the post, lovely paper, friendship, letters, art — it's really all there is."

What it boils down to is that they want to encourage and inspire the fine art of writing. And spoiling your pals with great mail. And treating people well. Being fancy. Apprecating art.

And, of course, rocking out.