Miki’s Paper

This was my first visit to Miki’s and it is such a lovely store that had a great vibe, and the people that work there are so sweet and attentive.
Their selection of paper is amazing and great quality; its not the cheap stuff that one can get at Papyrus.
I also noticed that they do beautiful gift wrapping!
Plus, there is a parking lot! However, I found easy street parking!
Overall, I am so pleased to have found such a quality paper store, and I can’t wait to go back!

I love this shop! What a gem! Beautiful Japanese papers and more. Great place to go for unique, beautiful gift ideas.
The new owner is Vicky Mihara-​Avery. She is so nice … and helpful! She has a lot of experience (has appeared on Martha Stewart, The Carol Duvall Show, etc.). What a great resource!
It’s a small shop but the quality is very good. My new go-​to. I can’t wait to go back.

All birthday, congratulatory, etc. cards from now on are going to be from Miki’s! I love the paper embedded with leaves and flowers.
I also would like to someday purchase one of their sheets of thinly cut dried fruit and frame it.

This place is such a gem! I’ve never seen such cute and high quality papers anywhere, even in Japan! I’ve scoured the internet for papers such as these and haven’t found anything like it.
The owner, Miki, is a cute little old lady who is super sweet and helpful! She says the store has been open for more than 40 years! I so regret not buying more than I did because I live in San Mateo and it’s a little far. But I will definitely go back!

I’ve waited a long time to write about this store. I went in recently and had another frustrating experience dealing with the owner. I would give this store a minus three stars if I could. The owner is an arrogant old crabby lady. She is as rude as they come –absolutely the worst customer service I have ever encountered. Will never shop there again. I would rather get my paper overseas and pay the expensive shipping cost. There is such a bad overall vibe in there that I will never go in there again!

The most beautiful paper art I have ever seen– prices range to fit all budgets. A really lovely shop. We discovered it on a visit to CA and had to bring some artwork home and give as gifts. Our hostess was gaga over the printed work we brought her. Really recommend this place. Eye candy through and through …

Miki’s Paper is such a beautiful little shop! The owner-​run store is on 4^th Street and holds a collection of screen-​printed washi paper, crafts made from the handmade paper (journals, frames, albums, etc), and other knick-​knacks.
The organization and layout of the shop is impeccable. Miki’s has everything displayed, so you can feast your eyes on all the gorgeous products, yet the store is so clean and tidy.
I came here in search of a gift for a friend. I bought a box of cards and two soaps. The soaps were amazing and intensely fragrant. Miki’s provided me with a box for the soaps and gift wrapped both items.
Price is a bit on the higher side, but reasonable — especially considering that most of the products are handmade by local artists! The product selection is wide, so I’m sure that anyone will find a few items within their budget.

lovely art pieces

My wife took me to her old stomping grounds in Berkeley to Miki’s Paper, and I was glad that she knew of this place with such amazing, handmade paper and other cultural Japanese gifts. I guess she knows me well — show me only the best. What an experience! I would consider framing some of their paper as artwork to hang on my wall!

Do NOT shop here. Last week I stopped in and asked a young salesperson if I could bring in something written in Japanese that it 2 sentences long and have it translated. I have had for 30 years. She said sure. This morning I went to the storewith the paper with the 2 sentences written in Japanese. I asked the store owner, who is Japanese, if she would kindly translate it for me. She stared at me, and in perfect English said «Go on Google and find a translator. That is not our profession.»
HUH? She knew exactly what it said. She was not busy. She simply wouldn’t tell me. This is one of the rudest people I have met in over 60 years. One of the young saleswomen turned red and was clearly embarassed. She gave me the of another business that has a Japanese owner to translate it for me.
Rudeness beyond belief or any rationality.

Miki’s Paper is the place to get your authentic Japanese paper for any type of project you have in mind.
The paper is strong, high quality, and beautiful. Miki’s even offers one of a kind picture frames, light switch covers, pens, and cards.
Miki’s is an exquisite store. The store has an alluring smell of incense. All of the items are beautifully hand crafted. It is on the pricey side but it is understanding since everything is high quality.
I felt welcomed into the store unlike many of the other shops on 4^th street. I was greeted right away and all my questions were answered kindly. What makes a store even more lovely is the wonderful customer service.

This store has the most exquisite handmade paper I have seen. My friend and I used to make cards, and used to come here regularly to find special pieces of paper we could incorporate. Since we’ve stopped making them, I «console» myself by buying their lovely cards instead. Some day, when we have more money, I want to buy one or ten of their larger art to put on my wall.

I popped into Miki’s last week to check out their inventory after having visited half a dozen paper stores while on a road trip to Oregon, Washington and Vancouver and spending about $ 300 on paper (most of it Japanese). I now have several quality stores by which to compare Miki’s to.
Miki’s has, hands down, the best selection of Japanese papers. Their selection is unique (none of the other stores I visited had the patterns they carried) and their prices are competitive (and sometimes better) than the other shops.
My favorite part about Miki is the accessories they carry. All the merchandise (journals, photo albums, boxes, frames, and other knick-​knacks) are unique and not found anywhere else. Most other paper shops carry a ton of mass produced products that are carried by all paper and stationary shops. Those on the hunt for unique items will not be disappointed at Miki’s.

Ok – so I’m writing this review for service I got there a few years ago but every time I pass by Miki’s, I get nice vibes about it and kick myself for not writing this earlier. So things might have changed since then but these 5 stars are for their great service before…
I had decided that I wanted to make my own wedding invitations because 1) it was cheaper to do it that way, 2) it wasn’t a ridiculous idea since there weren’t going to be THAT many guests, and 3) nothing online or at stores really felt like the right fit – I wanted a Japanese style but nothing over the top, something real simple yet elegant. I also wanted something that felt more Okinawan (props to my roots!) than mainland Japanese in style and found a great pattern there that resembled Bingata stenciling.
I’m a craftsy gal and have a total Japanese paper fetish so when I walk in, I just about peed in my pants. The stuff they have on stock is incredible. I tell a couple of the employees what I wanted to do, they show me some of the cards they were making and give me prices (YIKES) and because it wasn’t busy and saw that there was no way I was gonna order their cards, they totally sat down with me, and helped me figure out how I could basically steal their idea and do it on my own. They wrote out the measurements of the cards, doing all the math with me on how much paper I would need to buy (for all the different layers) and the width and length of each section, and gave me ideas on how to match the paper to the season of the wedding. They made a little cardboard template for me to keep. LOVE THEM!
Of course I bought tons of paper from them –I bought the outside sections of paper from them and the parts for the strips to went down one side of the card. The rest of the layers and envelopes were bought online for really cheap to keep costs low. And I put my sweat shop crew of girlfriends to work with paper cutters and glue sticks for a few weekends. Of course I forgot to stop in after the wedding to show them my finished product due to all their amazing help but I always feel nice and fuzzy when I think about Miki’s Paper.

Absolutely beautiful products at very reasonable prices. I found some paper I loved, and I think I’m going to go back, buy it, and have it framed to make art for the walls. The sheets of paper are beautiful enough to be art by themselves. It’s worth taking a look and seeing if it appeals to you. Not everybody will like it, but you may be surprised by what they can do. There were sheets of paper that look like fabric scarves, sheets that look like bits of woven clouds… it’s just amazing.

Talk about niche market.

Beautiful paper and other items, soothing atmosphere, great customer service, reasonable prices for what they offer. The experience of being in the store makes you feel elegant and serene. I bought saffron colored rice paper for purposes related to a memorial service for my dad, along with a tiny paper crane. Absolutely perfect.

I previously mentioned that I went to Kozo in SF today. So on the way home, I decided to go to 4^th Street and stop in at Miki’s. 4^th Street was having a sidewalk sale and I managed to pick up a nice box and a killer red paper journal.
Miki’s continues to have gorgeous and high quality/​hand made papers, boxes, cards, etc. that are fun to touch and consider future uses. The store itself is calming and the staff continues to be friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.

MIki Paper has been on 4^th street for at least a dozen years. It has a great selection of fine, textured, Japanese papers.
I used to go here and pick out some for my Mom to make hand made specialty gift cards.
She once made 300 of them for a business, and each one was unique. The great textured paper from Miki helped a lot.
You can find similar textured specialty paper from other art stores, but usually not the same qualitry or variety.
If you have a special project and you want a nice textured paper element to it, check what they have here.

These. Papers. Are. Gorgeous.
Okay, what I really want to say is that I want Miki to let me have her mini paper koi nobori. It’s never going to happen.

I love Paper Source, with their large selection of specialty papers… but this place is simply handmade Japanese paper heaven. They have some very unique and pretty cards, perfect for those who appreciate Asian art. Check out some of their non-​paper goods too — I was in love with the lacquer boxes with the gingko leaves on them.

I love this store! The paper is gorgeous and if I had more wall space I would definitely buy a big piece to frame. The cards are very pretty and everything is really reasonable priced considering the quality of the paper.

Mmm, I desire every hand-​made, hand-​dyed, paper item in this magical, sacred paper boutique. In December of 2000, I bought all of my holiday gifts at this store. Miki was so helpful and sweet as I spent hours pouring over the various letter boxes, one-​of-​a-​kind cards, origami kits, japanese paper games, tea tins, gift tags, note calendars, sketch and writing journals, and stationery.
I visited the day after Thanksgiving this year to see if the store had changed much and Miki remembered me. «Holly?» I looked over to her and just beamed, I couldn’t believe she remembered me. 4^th St. gets so busy during the holidays.
That really did it for me. Miki’s Paper will be a favorite of mine for ever.