Women in Business: Katie Smith - Please Reply

Katie Smith’s family has been in the paper business for several generations, so owning Please Reply in Crestline Village is more or less family tradition.

Smith’s mother, Betty McKewen, opened Please Reply in 1999. The shop sells seasonal and occasion cards, everything a bride would need for her special day including invitations, announcements, save-the-date cards, custom napkins, koozies, bridesmaid gifts, bride book and matchbooks, stationery and other paper goods and gifts such as calendars, planners, notepads, coasters, luggage tags and address labels. “I spent my childhood wanting to start a store and was excited when the opportunity presented itself through buying my mother’s business two years ago,” Smith said.

The products at Please Reply are chosen based on what Smith and her staff think their customers will enjoy. Smith said she enjoys traveling to find new brands to bring back to her store.

Smith said she enjoys the people who walk through the door every day, as well as the staff at Please Reply. With 18 years in business, many of the customers coming in are familiar faces.

“From high school and college graduation gifts, holidays, weddings [and] babies, it is always great to see the same faces trusting me to help them with decisions throughout these important times,” Smith said.

Please Reply’s customer service, product selection, knowledgeable staff and convenient location are all part of the reason customers keep coming back, Smith said.

Please Reply is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.