‘Stamp Cache’ sells to new owner

PALMER — After serving Valley customers for the past seven years, there will be a new face behind the counter and a new name on the Stamp Cache business license when the business re-opens Tuesday.

Linda Pendergrass opened the cache after retiring from Matanuska Telephone Association.

“I just wanted to have fun,” she said in a farewell interview Tuesday, shortly after signing the papers to complete the sale. “It’s been the greatest journey. When I opened I never really dreamed it would become this.”

Over the years, Pendergrass said she’s seen several similar shops come and go, including the last similar store in Anchorage, which has announced its plans to close soon.

Along with friendly, personal service, another key to the cache’s success has been the steady stream of classes it offers crafters of all skill levels.

“My big thing has been classes — showing people what to do with the stuff,” Pendergrass said.

That won’t change either under the leadership of new owner Jeanne Perkins. She said all that’s really changing is the name of the owner.

“My husband told me I had so much of the stuff I should buy the store,” she joked on Tuesday.

From an ever-changing assortment of arty paper stock to a wide variety of stamps, die cuts and embellishments — the Stamp Cache is floor to ceiling a crafters’ paradise.

Pendergrass said although the shop has been around for many years, new customers still come in regularly surprised to find the shop tucked into the a back corner in the Koslosky Center in downtown Palmer.

Much more common are the shop’s large contingent of repeat customers, some who stop in daily to share stories and maybe browse the new supply of paper, pick up a new stamp.

Pendergrass said her customers have become her friends along the way and have also formed bonds of friendships with each other.

“It’s a tightly bound crafting community,” she said.

Perkins was one of those customers who came to the shop to feed her art habit, her soul and learn new techniques from the monthly classes Pendergrass taught. Now, after 2.5 years as a customer, Perkins is the owner and the teacher.

Although, Pendergrass said, it is possible she could pop in now and again as a guest instructor.

“I want her to succeed,” she said of Perkins.

As has been its custom, Perkins said the shop will continue to offer three card and a project class every month. Classes are listed on the door of the shop and on its website. Crafters can signup for the shop’s mailing list, too, and receive email notification of upcoming classes and special deals.

Pendergrass said she attributes a great deal of her success to these classes. She described herself as a crafting tour guide. First she comes up with design for a card or project, makes it, and then assembles kits of all the supplies students will need to complete the project.

That design means everyone from advanced to beginner takes the same class and everyone leaves with a finished project, Pendergrass said.

“I’m the tour guide to get them started,” she said. “If people understand how to use it, they want it.”

Perkins and her husband are retired educators who bought a house in the Valley in 2000 after moving to Alaska in 1998 to work for the Yupiit School District, serving villages along the Kuskokwim River.

“This is where we wanted to settle,” Perkins said.

Their child is an eighth-grader at Colony Middle School.

Pendergrass said she’s been surprised by the number of customers who stopped by the shop to wish her well after she sent out an e-mail last week sharing the news of the sale.

She said customers are sad to see her go, but they are thrilled the store is staying. Her last day at the shop was July 3.

“It’s an exciting adventure for both of us,” Pendergrass said of the sale to Perkins.

So what does Pendergrass plan to do first in her retirement? Enjoy a cup of coffee on her deck, she said.

Next, she can pick from a slate of activities her 8-year-old grandson has planned for her — hike the Butte, hike in Hatcher Pass, buy a bike and helmet and go riding, and go to the fair every day.

“When I told him I wanted to drink a cup of coffee on the deck first, he paused for a moment, then asked, ‘Well, Grandma, how long’s that going to take.’”

The Stamp Cache is located at 642 S. Alaska St., Ste 107. Contact the business at 745-4848, or visit stampcachealaska.com.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.