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OVER THE COUNTER
Sweet Sorrow
Below: David with his mum and dad (Lynda and Jim) at the recent reopening of one of their stores. Bottom: Just some of the 450 sympathy cards (so far) that David and his mum have received.
Independent card and gift retailer, David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi in Scotland, discusses grief and the power and support of Sympathy cards after the recent sad loss of his dad. Sympathy is an emotion I have considered a lot in recent years. As you get older you tend to go to an increasing number of funerals and you realise that someone somewhere is always getting a sore heart. That said, until these last two weeks, I think I have never truly understood how you feel when you lose someone so close to you. Described as the feeling of sorrow for someone else’s misfortune or troubles, sympathy covers many forms, but in the world in which we live it is most thought of in terms of someone passing away. Sympathy cards are unfortunately our biggest seller, and both my mum and I put an emphasis on giving our customers a large choice within our stores, having around 60 pockets of sympathy cards, excluding Thinking of You and other titles. We have always taken the attitude that this is the single most important caption on our displays, and sadly this has been proven correct time after time. The history behind sympathy cards is interesting. Originally they were used as more of an announcement to tell people that someone had passed. Most of the original cards were plain, but as time elapsed they became more elaborate with imagery, drawings, family crests and other things adorning them. Some also featured the epitaph from the headstone and a little of the history of the person who had passed. In this sense they became part of the records of a life. As we moved into the middle and late 20th century sympathy cards changed again. The colours softened to pastel hues and the imagery was simple and designed to minimise the harshness of what had happened. Most of the imagery is similar to 46
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
now, with flowers, rainbows, butterflies and beaches/sea being popular. However, cards with words are essential to a card store’s collection as some people don’t know what to say. These words can be simple and touching while others more elaborate with a prayer or inspirational text to comfort and support the recipient. This year one of the sympathy card trends I have noted is in even more specific titles, such as the loss of a pet, and indeed motivation/statement cards such as ‘cancer sucks’. Hallmark has just brought out its ‘Here for you’ range from America. There is only a small selection of titles at launch but Hallmark expects this to grow rapidly as it has in the States. Sadly I write this after I have lost one of the two biggest influences in my life, my father. In the week since his passing we have received almost 450 cards marking his life and his influence. He used to read this
column every month without saying too much. Comments like “You have said that before” or “They are all the same” were frequent remarks. However, as is often the case, it came to light afterwards that he did enjoy my writing. His carer who worked in the house with us to support my mum informed me that he made her read it every month and said he couldn’t believe that I could write like that, always finding something different to say. My dad was, and will always be, a special person. He lost his dad when he was just nine years old and had to fight hard for everything in life. He cared little for material things and was really only worried about mum and I. That said, he did have a burning ambition to own his own business. This goal was achieved at the age of 54 when an oldschool newsagents, selling combs and bootlaces, was bought. The cards it did stock were kept in shoeboxes! As a pair, mum and dad changed the shop. A pop-up shop was opened, part of the hotel next door was bought and extensions were made. From second-hand bright orange card units in the beginning to where we are now, it has been a long journey. I began my dad’s eulogy at his funeral by describing him as “hardworking, loyal, reliable, intelligent, funny, quick-witted, unassuming, generous… a gentleman”. These are the words that permeated the sympathy cards that we have received and