Rifle Paper Co., a popular stationery and lifestyle brand started in Winter Park by a husband-and wife-team, is closing its longtime warehouse and fulfillment center in Fern Park and laying off 74 employees.
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The company, based out of its store at 558 W. New England Ave. in the city’s Hannibal Square, notified the state May 29 about plans to shutter the leased warehouse space, located at 133 Atlantic Drive just across the Seminole County border from Maitland.
Employees will be let go in phases, the company said, starting with 58 on July 31, 14 on Aug. 28, when the building is set to close, and the last two on Sept. 30. It’s unclear if the company is moving any of the work done in the warehouse for about 10 years to a facility elsewhere.
An email Friday from Margie Terp, Rifle Paper’s senior manager for public relations and brand marketing, said the company had no comment.
The Winter Park store is expected to remain open and unaffected by the layoffs. In fact, the company is expanding, with plans to open its second store this fall in Tampa’s Hyde Park Village.
A letter dated May 28 to officials with Seminole County and the Florida Department of Commerce notified them of the planned closure and layoffs. The letter, a WARN notice required under the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, said the closing is expected to be permanent and affect most employees at that location.
“The moment it was received we made sure that the CareerSource task force that is funded through state and local was ready to initiate the resources for reemployment,” said Guilherme Cunha, director of the Seminole County Office of Economic Development and Tourism
CareerSource Central Florida is the region’s workforce board responsible for workforce planning, programs and the labor market for Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Sumter counties.
Cunha said while he wasn’t aware if Rifle Paper reached out to the county before officially announcing its plans, the company isn’t required to do so.
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According to the Rifle Paper website, Anna and Nathan Bond started the company in 2009 as a small stationery brand which has grown to include a full range of home décor and gifts. The company has expanded into a lifestyle brand with everything from shoes to wallpaper and collaborations with notable retailers like Target. Its products are found in thousands of retailers, big and small, around the world.
It’s unclear how involved the Bonds remain in the company’s day-to-day operations.
In April the company named Carey-Ann Campbell its chief executive officer. She had previously served as CEO of Southern Tide, a South Carolina-based lifestyle apparel and accessories brand.
On her LinkedIn profile, co-founder Anna Bond states that as of April she was no longer chief creative officer, the position she had held since 2009, nor CEO, which she served as beginning in May 2024. Instead, she is listed as a Rifle Paper board member and strategic brand adviser.
Co-founder Nathan Bond was listed as CEO from 2009 until May 2021. At that time Trish Whalen, who joined the company as brand president in 2018, was promoted to CEO, a position she held until leaving in 2024 to become CEO of the E. Frances Paper Co. in Rhode Island.
Chicago-based Promus Equity lists on its website as having majority equity in the company. Avante Capital Partners of Los Angeles lists Rifle in its portfolio as an active investment. Together the two firms invested $55.6 million in the company in 2021, according to CB Insights, a market intelligence and predictive analytics platform.
As a private company, Rifle Paper doesn’t have to publicly release its financial information. According to Zoominfo.com, the company is estimated to generate between $31.4 million and $50 million in annual revenue.
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