Why is the Sympathy Card Section Always So Small?

If you’ve ever stood in a card shop looking for a sympathy card, you might have noticed something.

The section is often small.
Tucked away in a corner.
Sometimes just a few shelves with feathers and doves and vague platitudes.

We’ve noticed it too - and so have the shops we speak to.

In fact, one of the most common reasons we hear for not stocking our cards is simple:

“There’s not much space in the sympathy section.”

But maybe that says more than we think.

Maybe the lack of physical space is a reflection of how little space our society gives to grief as a whole.

Because grief - real grief - often makes people uncomfortable.
It’s the thing we’re meant to move through quietly.
It doesn’t get pride of place.
It gets a corner.
A nod.
A whisper.

And yet, if you’ve lost someone, you’ll know: grief isn’t small.
It doesn’t sit quietly.
It changes everything.

So why do we offer people so little when they’re trying to show up for someone who’s grieving?

We believe the problem isn’t just lack of shelf space — it’s lack of choice.

Maybe people don’t buy sympathy cards because they don’t see themselves in the ones available.
Because the messages feel too distant, too polished, too empty.
Because there’s nothing that says: I see your pain, and I’m still here.
Nothing that captures the love, the colour, the chaos of life after loss.

We started LoveLossDiscoballs because we wanted to change that.

To create cards that make people feel something.
Cards that show up in the hard bits of life - not just the celebrations.
Cards that give grief the space, colour and care it deserves.

Because even when the section is small, grief never is.