Little Otsu. Lotsa Fun.

Little Otsu is a wee shop on Valencia Street in the San Francisco Mission District. Little, wee, but full of fun cards, stationery, cool calendars, and creative gift ideas, Little Otsu's San Francisco headquarters is a cute storefront showcasing their entire line of printed matter, as well as other books and paper goods from fellow small independent companies.



If you've got big plans this year (and who doesn't!) you must be in need of a weekly, monthly or even daily planner - this is the spot to find a great one. And you can pick up some unique cards and stationery goods while you're there, from independent designers like Kate Sutton, Keri Smith, Lart C. Berliner, Allison Cole, Jason Munn, and Kaori Kasai to name just a few.



Otsu is an antiquated Japanese word meaning…strange; quaint; stylish; chic; spicy; witty; tasty; romantic (it depends on the context). Co-owners Jeremy and Yvonne found it in Yvonne’s dad’s old Japanese-to-English dictionary. Jeremy and Yvonne began Otsu in 2004 as a way to collaborate with like-minded artists to make unique and useful print products using alternative materials like soy-based inks, recycled, and tree-free papers. If you can't go in person, you can shop Little Otsu online, too.