Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Great little print shop. One of Portsmouth’s lesser known gems. Every time I go in, I see something new that I desperately want to bring home. My go-​to shop for cards for any occasion; they have an excellent selection of funny + adorable cards for every purpose. I am actually headed there this afternoon to pick up a birthday card (and most likely a sweet 17 month agenda for myself)!
Every interaction I have had with the staff has been warm and pleasant. If you have not stopped in to check out Gus & Ruby’s, make sure to do so.

This store drew me in immediately while roaming the streets of Portsmouth. The incredible letter pressed work in addition to various body care products, candles, fancy crafts and a selection of children’s things was lovely. As with most things in downtown Portland, this print boutique will charge 3 – 4 times the amount you’ll be used to paying anywhere else, but there’s plenty of eye candy for the design guru! Products produced in house as well Kate Spade, Paper Source, and all the fancy candle and lotion specialties. Even if you’re not having an personalized work done, you can’t go wrong just browsing. I felt inspired and invigorated walking out. It’s such a lovely spot and any artists paradise. Customer service was ok but the shop was busy and she manned the register and said hello to most customers walking in. Regardless, you must give this shop a look!

Beautiful store, friendly salespeople. A great place to shop.

The best and most adorable products there. The people who work there are always so sweet. Just bought a kate spade day planner I had been looking for. Everything is darling there!

Where to even start!
We first read about Gus & Ruby in Boston Magazine, and just loved their business model. A beautiful stationary shop started by two dynamic women who named their business after their dogs? Sold. I think I emailed them just a few weeks after we were engaged asking how early was too early to make our appointment — I was that excited, and oh boy did they live up to it.
We worked with both Laura and Samantha on our save the dates and invitations, and when after our first appointment we realized we’d practically designed the same invitations as a close friend had recently used, they let us come back in and start the whole process over. What we ended up with were save the dates that were so sweet and original, we didn’t stop hearing about it from friends for weeks. Same for the invites.
The process is fun, the follow up prompt and accurate, they have relationships with really talented calligraphers, and even the packaging for our invitations when we came in to pick them up was special. Gus & Ruby is practically perfect, and Portsmouth the sweetest place to visit too.

I love this store. I always have to stop in here on our yearly trip to Portsmouth. The craftsmanship and the beauty of all the items wow me every time. They have all kinds of beautiful gift ideas as well as unique cards you can impress your friends with (instead of getting something from Target again), they also have a wedding planning section, I assume for wedding invitations.
The only thing I get sad about is how expensive everything is. I wanted a simple calendar last year and the prices were crazy! I understand you’re paying for an art, but yikes. I just couldn’t afford to drop that much on a calendar.
Anyway, I usually don’t buy more than a couple Christmas cards in here, but I love looking at all the fun stuff. I never knew how much you could do with paper!

Stopped in here on our weekend trip to Portsmouth. The good news: the selection. Slightly heavy on Rifle Paper, but a nice selection of clever cards — including presses/​vendors that I’ve bought from or other friends have bought for me (e.g. Sycamore Street, Paper Lovely… and even Tattly).
Now, the bad news: the service. We were not acknowledged at all in the store. I wish I could say that this was because they were busy (there were a bunch of folks in the store), but two folks were at the counter (one was not ringing folks up) and another person was chatting up a regular. Only the regular folks were acknowledged over a 20 minute span (I say this because they were greeted by name — the rest of us got no general greeting). When we were lifting some of the wrapping paper, we weren’t asked if we needed any help, had any questions, etc. I was so weirded out by the experience that as I was thinking about writing the Unilocal review, I asked my fellow travelers in the car to confirm, «So what did you think of the customer service at the letterpress store?» There was a beat, and someone said, «What customer service?»
I appreciate buying local, and I do so as often as is feasible (and sometimes not feasible) on my student budget. And I appreciate the value of establishing business with one’s regulars. But I can’t support that at the expense of not welcoming potential new customers — a foundational point for small businesses. While I have selected a higher rating for the very good selection, the experience left a sour taste in my mouth. Based on previous reviews, it looks like my opinion is in the minority, but also not unfounded, so until otherwise proven I’ll plan on continuing to get my stationery directly from the vendors themselves.

Awesome and adorable shop! You can’t help but be happy when you enter.

thank you, thank you a million times over to Gus & Ruby for making our wedding invitations little pieces of art. absolutely the best letterpress & print design company EVER! as soon as we started to work with them, they immediately understood our style & vision. they executed hip, modern, beautiful, unique, absolutely perfect invitations down to every last detail. i cannot overstate the quality and beauty of the design and finished product… or the professionalism of G&R. so many of our guests went out of their way to tell us how much they loved our invites & how they were the most beautiful and unique they had ever seen. we even received letters back specifically requesting the name of our stationary designer! in fact, i just saw my invitation up at a friend’s home who said she will «keep the invitation forever… the most beautiful she has ever seen» !! :) thank you for everything & we cannot wait for another occasion (baby announcements?!) to work with you ladies again. cheers!

Charming shop, great selection of stationary items, helpful sales attendants. I bought a day planner (and all the accoutremants) over the weekend, which I just love. I declined the receipt but realized the next day that I did indeed need the receipt to expense the purchase. They very quickly and quite happily emailed me the receipt. Check out this cute shop next time you’re in Portsmouth!

This is one of the few places where you can receive customer service above and beyond anything you imagine! I can’t tell you how amazing my experience working with Liz was — always positive, incredibly nice, very easy to work with, and extremely attentive! I would highly recommend Gus and Ruby! The absolute best selection/​creativity on customized invitations. And when I say best, I mean I did some internet searching for 3+ weeks until I luckily stumbled across an invitation sample of theirs.

I love Gus and Ruby’s asthetic and general look. Everything in their store is very pretty and cute, simple, and a bit playful. I bought some staitionary today with a modern take on a classic 60s design with beautiful birds in cool colors. They also have cards and wrapping paper and lots of wonderful things

According to their facebook page, today is Gus & Ruby’s second birthday and it reminded me that I’ve been meaning to give them a fifth star. Over the last year, I’ve decided that they have the best cards in Portsmouth and Gus has even helped me to pick out a few cards for my wife. I’m no expert on letterpress and the last thing I need is wedding invitations, but the cards are amazing.
And if you’re someone who DOES have a need for letterpress or wedding invitations, be sure to drop by Gus & Ruby. If everything in the store is as good as the cards, you’re not leaving empty handed. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Gus & Ruby and I hope you have many more. I’d buy you a card, but you’d see me do it and it wouldn’t be a surprise.

I love Gus & Ruby’s cards, & the store is a regularly monthly stop for me so that I can stock up on special occasion greetings for friends. The store is bright & colorful, but I’ve found the employees to be a bit cold & unfriendly, & their prices are, well, pricey. Still, I like their cards too much to ever give them up. Definitely worth checking out!

Though the store isn’t large, it’s densely packed with wonderful letterpressed stationary, beautiful prints and lovely keepsakes. If you live in New Hampshire and want wedding invitations or housewarming gifts for hip friends, you cannot possibly do better than Gus and Ruby.

With their move to Congress St, the selection keeps getting bigger & better. Great for gift ideas in addition to an extensive card selection. Top rate establishment.

so beautiful! everything is absolute perfection from the décor to each card. i could’ve spent hours in here. the labels on the brown bags are gorgeous. i’m already thinking about having them create my wedding invites, and i’m not even dating anyone. oh well.

What a beautiful store! I could spend hours in here. Everything is delicate, feminine, soft yet intricate and unique. This store reminds me of Paper Source but more specialized, local, and personal. The cards lining the wall are perfect for every occasion. The artwork was my favorite though, such great pieces. Wish I lived closer!

i am a letterpress junkie and when i saw a sign that said letterpress while coming into town i knew i had to stop in — hoping that they would have some presses setup and be running cool print jobs. i miss the smell of ink.
ok its a fancy schmancy stationary store, still — some cool stuff, nice people, funky paper goods and ephemera — my kinda store.

I am a letter-​writer. I write letters and cards to friends constantly. For the longest time I had trouble finding great cards in the Portsmouth area. Sure, I would find one or two cute ones from time to time scattered around town, but FINALLY a card and stationery mecca has opened in Portsmouth.
This store is jam-​packed with beautiful stationery and cards, not to mention coasters, gift wrap, mailing labels, gifts, books, art prints… you name it. They’ve got a wide variety of styles for all occasions, and some of the absolute funniest cards I’ve seen in awhile.
This will definitely be my one-​stop-​shop for cards in Portsmouth from now on.