Paper Source will cut more than 100 jobs at its Forest Park warehouse when the stationery retailer closes its facility west of Chicago this spring.

Paper Source, owned by bookstore chain Barnes & Noble, will lay off 107 employees by April 1 when it closes its plant at 7801 Industrial Park, according to a Jan. 29 filing under the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

Paper Source was founded in Chicago in 1983 and bought by Barnes & Noble’s owner in 2021 after the stationery and gifts retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Forest Park facility’s lease ends at the start of 2026, said Janine Flanigan, senior director of store planning and design at Barnes & Noble, in an email.

“We have to vacate and have started the process with all our employees about the closure. As a retailer whose business is especially concentrated in the holiday period, we have to make the move in the summer to be able to meet the seasonality of the year-end.”

The Forest Park warehouse serves Paper Source stores and online business nationwide, said Flanigan. The company will shift operations to existing warehouses. “We are deeply appreciative of the support and professionalism of the Forest Park team over the last 10 years,” she added.

Since 2015, Paper Source has operated the Forest Park facility, which spans about 120,000 square feet, according to the Forest Park Review.

Paper Source recently set up its corporate headquarters at Barnes & Noble’s new Wicker Park store, which opened in October at 1601 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Paper Source has started opening new locations “after many years of declining store numbers, including a recent standalone store carved out of the Barnes & Noble store at Encinitas, California, Flanigan said.

Hedge fund Elliott Management bought Paper Source in May 2021 after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that March. At the time, many retailers were struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Elliot Management purchased Barnes & Noble in September 2019.

Before the announcement of the Forest Park warehouse closure, Paper Source had more than 200 employees in the Chicago area with 117 stores across 28 states, according to the company’s website.

Paper Source’s Chicago stores include locations in River North, Lincoln Park and the Loop at 125 S. Clark St., as well as suburban locations. Products include greeting cards, gifts and stationery.

Barnes & Noble, the largest private book retailer in the U.S., has been on a store-opening spree after 15 years of shuttering locations. In 2024, it opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had in the whole decade from 2009 to 2019, according to the company.

The bookstore chain expects to open more than 60 new stores in 2025 after launching about 50 last year, including four in the Chicago area. More than 100 people stood in line before the launch of its new Lincoln Park location last May.