A Campus Store Without A Fountain Pen Ink

[fledermaus89]

I went to the campus store at my school today to buy a ruler. Out of curiosity I went over to the pen section if they carried any fountain pens or ink; wasn't really expecting to find a pen but I assumed they would have at least a bottle of Quink or Waterman, as my undergrad campus store did (current school is about twice as big as my undergrad in terms of student body). Well, none! I spent about 15 minutes before coming across several calligraphy sets on the art supplies corner, some of them fountain pens, but not for normal writing. And even for these they didn't have any cartridge refills.

 

Not that I needed to buy an ink, but I probably would have bought one if they had. I'm quite disappointed. I'd assume some professors and graduate students still rely on fountain pens...

 

What's even more annoying is that they have a full section dedicated to makeup products, complete with a sink, mirror and blinding lights. At a campus store? Is that really necessary?

[Beechwood]

http://www.wharfedaleobserver.co.uk/news/education/10432819.Ilkley_pupils____writing_skills_impress_Rotarians/

 

You would think that if schools cannot get it right then there is not much chance, but this story in a local paper gave hope.

 

And another was about Marion Richardson

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Richardson

 

A teacher in the east end of London who believed that handwriting skills and discipline put you in a good place for the rest of your life. A school is named after her.

[KBeezie]

Yea you can't find fountain pen ink at all at the GRCC (Grand Rapids Community College) and GVSU (Grand Valley State University). In fact at the GRCC bookstore you can't even find refills for ballpoints just new pens. If you want Fountain Pen Ink around here you need to hit up a Staples.

 

Over at GRCC when you walk in, on your left is a wall of just pens, pencils, clipboards, paperclips, journals, loose leaf paper, resume/facsimile paper, and nursing books/documentation. The whole back of the store is just books. Then right-center across from the registers are mainly clothing merchandise, electronic accessories, then over to the far right are some tablet and printer displays and some coolers for drinks and snacks.

 

I remember I bought a 'stainless steel' gel BP for about $7 at the bookstore in GRCC, wasn't even a month before the center section cracked causing the two portions of the pen to not stay firmly together anymore. Sad considering that same kind of money can get Chinese, Indian or a little more for Japanese fountain pens with more durability than that...

 

Also it would seem most my classmates at GRCC (most of which are probably 10 years younger than I, as I'm 33) do not know longhand (cursive), even asked one student who I sold two fountain pens to if it was even taught in school, and she said no. Seems the last 15-20 years the schools in the area dropped cursive from the curriculum.

Edited April 15, 2014 by KBeezie

[KBeezie]

What's even more annoying is that they have a full section dedicated to makeup products, complete with a sink, mirror and blinding lights. At a campus store? Is that really necessary?

 

If you live on campus... yea.

[theverdictis]

Same at my University, the campus shop is quite bad at stocking stationary. Although they have just brought in a new system where if you don't use your loan (for books etc) at the shop by the end of the year, they will give you vouchers so you can go and spend the money on clothes etc. I'm hoping they give me high street vouchers that I maybe able to use at a stationers.

 

Ben

[BT-7274]

I went to the campus store at my school today to buy a ruler. Out of curiosity I went over to the pen section if they carried any fountain pens or ink; wasn't really expecting to find a pen but I assumed they would have at least a bottle of Quink or Waterman, as my undergrad campus store did (current school is about twice as big as my undergrad in terms of student body). Well, none! I spent about 15 minutes before coming across several calligraphy sets on the art supplies corner, some of them fountain pens, but not for normal writing. And even for these they didn't have any cartridge refills.

 

Not that I needed to buy an ink, but I probably would have bought one if they had. I'm quite disappointed. I'd assume some professors and graduate students still rely on fountain pens...

 

What's even more annoying is that they have a full section dedicated to makeup products, complete with a sink, mirror and blinding lights. At a campus store? Is that really necessary?

Most campus stores nowadays are like that. They'll focus to no end on merchandising of their own name, and not as much on actual supplies. That said though, my campus store does happen to stock a few Pilot Parallels and Pilot cartridges, along with a nice selection of various leads for drafting and the like. For the good stuff though, I end up having to go off campus. Luckily,AJ Hastings in Amherst happens to stock a nice selection of paper, ink, and cartridges, along with entry-level to decent pens. Still on the wall on saving up for the Pelikan Toledo M205 they had.

[MBFan]

Same story at my campus store. The book shop doesn't sell any pens/ paraphernalia either, bar a small selection of Moleskine own brand ballpoints.

 

Even our staples has only a limited selection, unless you want a Parker pen, and every other shop on the high street stock only Lamy alongside Parker.

[fledermaus89]

Yea you can't find fountain pen ink at all at the GRCC (Grand Rapids Community College) and GVSU (Grand Valley State University). In fact at the GRCC bookstore you can't even find refills for ballpoints just new pens. If you want Fountain Pen Ink around here you need to hit up a Staples.

 

Over at GRCC when you walk in, on your left is a wall of just pens, pencils, clipboards, paperclips, journals, loose leaf paper, resume/facsimile paper, and nursing books/documentation. The whole back of the store is just books. Then right-center across from the registers are mainly clothing merchandise, electronic accessories, then over to the far right are some tablet and printer displays and some coolers for drinks and snacks.

 

I remember I bought a 'stainless steel' gel BP for about $7 at the bookstore in GRCC, wasn't even a month before the center section cracked causing the two portions of the pen to not stay firmly together anymore. Sad considering that same kind of money can get Chinese, Indian or a little more for Japanese fountain pens with more durability than that...

 

Also it would seem most my classmates at GRCC (most of which are probably 10 years younger than I, as I'm 33) do not know longhand (cursive), even asked one student who I sold two fountain pens to if it was even taught in school, and she said no. Seems the last 15-20 years the schools in the area dropped cursive from the curriculum.

 

My brother, who introduced me to Noodler's inks, was at Calvin College before transferring to somewhere else. He said there wasn't anything there either. Looks like my undergrad's campus store was quite unique. I guess this is one more reason to have pride in my alma mater

[fledermaus89]

Most campus stores nowadays are like that. They'll focus to no end on merchandising of their own name, and not as much on actual supplies. That said though, my campus store does happen to stock a few Pilot Parallels and Pilot cartridges, along with a nice selection of various leads for drafting and the like. For the good stuff though, I end up having to go off campus. Luckily,AJ Hastings in Amherst happens to stock a nice selection of paper, ink, and cartridges, along with entry-level to decent pens. Still on the wall on saving up for the Pelikan Toledo M205 they had.

 

That is pretty nice! Yes, I am so tired of endless rows of school branded T-shirts, hoodies, license plate frames, etc... one thing I actually liked was the baseball team jersey which I only saw once and never again. Should have bought it when it was available.

[KBeezie]

 

My brother, who introduced me to Noodler's inks, was at Calvin College before transferring to somewhere else. He said there wasn't anything there either. Looks like my undergrad's campus store was quite unique. I guess this is one more reason to have pride in my alma mater

 

Yea Calvin is just down the street from me, otherwise you got Aquinas pretty close to that and Davenport a little further downtown before reaching the GRCC campus there. (ITT and what not are further south of here, not sure where Phoenix is, but they're in GR too). I've visited some of their stores and don't remember seeing any there either. As far as I'm aware (in terms of seeing what people write with) I'm the only student I've noticed on campus to use a FP aside from the ones that acquired them from me.

Edited April 15, 2014 by KBeezie

[proton007]

A majority of stationary shops don't stock any FPs or inks at all, and an even smaller number have a couple of different brands. If this is the case with usual shops, the chances of a college co-op to stock FPs and inks is marginal.

[KBeezie]

A majority of stationary shops don't stock any FPs or inks at all, and an even smaller number have a couple of different brands. If this is the case with usual shops, the chances of a college co-op to stock FPs and inks is marginal.

 

I think due to the higher start-up cost to owning a FP, most students aren't probably thinking bout spending a chunk of their student aid on one, but rather on electronics and whatever scrap left for stationeries.

[feletoch]

my school is not that big, but the funny thing is my campus stocks bottle inks and fountain pens.

one day out of curiosity, I walk in and to my surprise, lamy bottle ink for $14 NZD. They also have fountain pens as well but i was in a hurry so i dont remember what pen they have, but lamy safari was there.

[dragonaura]

Lamy ink for $14! Please say it was at Canterbury university I live quite close to Canterbury uni so I might go have a look at what they have. The polytech that I attend as far as I know doesn't have a campus bookstore. The art stores close by are able to Lamy and Staedtler fountain pens and ink but the pens are at close to 100% markup compared to the online retail prices with shipping added. The normal bookstores and stationary stores have Lamys and a few Parker sonnets, quink, waterman ink and Mont Blanc. To my horror I went into a store and saw Mont Blanc ink and was told that they had fountain and ball point pens from the brands buy they had just finished clearing them out O:

[feletoch]

nope, it is the university of Auckland UBS store.

i think they have mont blanc ink as well but im not so sure.

by the way, have you heard of the http://www.penclassicsnz.com/? he seem to sell it on trademe as well, im kinda tempted to get the R&K salix from him.

[humblescribbler]

Where I live (Virginia) many college and university campus stores are actually now run by Barnes and Noble. When I visited my daughter in Boston, I noticed inside Harvard's bookstore all the B&N branding in the shelving, color schemes and non-book items. As in Virginia, the specific text books required for classes were sectioned off a little differently. They also had the packaged calligraphy sets with glass (and other material) dip pens and inks that B&N has sold for a long time. It was a little sad, but as discussed many times on FPN, seemingly inevitable.

[CharlieTurtle]

For a comparison, my British uni (and it's a reasonable size) has two stores on campus - a Waterstones and a unistore. The unistore sells v-pens or varisities or whatever they're calling them these days plus some no-name short standard international cartridges, and Waterstones occasionally has ink cartridges but not often.

 

Did see a Midori wannabe in there though, maybe there's hope.

[lreiley]

Sad. I have such fond memories of using my fountain pens to take notes in college, and not THAT long ago--80's.

[Sasha Royale]

They probably teach that "pleaded" and "roofs" are words, and that "loan" is a verb. Hippies !

[mcc1701]

Also it would seem most my classmates at GRCC (most of which are probably 10 years younger than I, as I'm 33) do not know longhand (cursive), even asked one student who I sold two fountain pens to if it was even taught in school, and she said no. Seems the last 15-20 years the schools in the area dropped cursive from the curriculum.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about it being a law, but the Tennessee House of Representatives just passed a bill for Senate approval requiring that cursive be taught in school. My niece and nephew, 14 and 12 respectively, have only rudimentarily developed longhand skills. But my niece has complemented my handwriting before and I've used it as an opportunity to encourage her to develop her cursive skills.