After more than 30 years of selling paper in the Northwest, Paper Zone plans to close all eight of its locations in Washington and Oregon as soon as they are liquidated.

"Unfortunately, the business is losing money, so it's not sustainable," said Christina Waterhouse, regional manager in charge of all the stores.

The chain emerged from bankruptcy proceedings in 2007, just as the economy began to slide, leaving Paper Zone's crafting, card-making and scrapbooking customers with less disposable income for their hobbies.

Over the past three years, sales have dropped 6 to 8 percent a year, Waterhouse said.

Paper Zone has 67 employees, including people who work at its Pioneer Square headquarters.

Its founding company, West Coast Paper, is still in business selling office and printing supplies to businesses. It opened its first retail outlet, then called Paper Pickup, in Bellevue in 1970.

In 1992, Paper Pickup had six stores and was spun off from West Coast Paper and renamed Paper Zone. The retail chain is now owned by Intracorp Capital in Seattle.

The liquidation sale began Wednesday with 30 percent off everything in the store, and additional markdowns are expected, Waterhouse said. The stores will begin selling fixtures next week.

They stock 440 varieties of paper for everything from baby announcements to copy machines to scrapbooks — including selling specialty paper by the sheet, something that is not easily replaced by online shopping or stationery-replacing websites such as Evite.com.

"It's been sad and difficult for us, because we've seen an outpouring of support from customers," Waterhouse said. "We get asked all the time, 'Where am I going to find what I need now?' "

Here are Paper Zone's locations:

• 10029 S.W. Nimbus, Beaverton, OR 97005

• 1136 S.E. Grand Ave., Portland, OR 97214

• 1881 Commercial N.E., Salem, OR 97303

• 15915 Westminster Way N., Shoreline, WA 98133

• 331 Tukwila Parkway, Tukwila, WA 98188

• 915 Iowa St., Bellingham, WA 98225

• 14330 N.E. 20th St., Bellevue, WA 98007

• 1911 First Ave S., Seattle, WA 98134

Melissa Allison: 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com. On Twitter @AllisonSeattle.