Hey I was wondering if anyone knew about Montblanc's once a year private sale? This years' had already past, it took place in March, last year it was in July I beleive - it's different every year. A bonus for shopping at your local Montblanc boutique is that they will send you invites and info to all of the new and upcoming things.

Private sales are the best way to get a fountain pen at a good deal. Those are the writing instruments that are usually on the sale and you'll find a lot of retired ones on there. Some of the more relatively new ones, you'll only find the BB, OB, or OBB nibs on sale (because they're not that popular) but did anyone ever know that you can purchase that at the 40% and then within the first six weeks, have the boutique send it in for a nib exchange of your choice??? (Just don't ink the pen, if you do, it has to be in great condition). I've seen a lot of the Meisterstuck Solitaires on there and even the high priced Boheme fountain pens.

I have found many fine and medium nibs too, just depends on what that particular boutique has in stock at the time of the sale. My rep told me there may be another one this year too since the first one was so early (and she has her eye out for a particular one for me). You might think that getting there first is the best idea, and it can be, but they get in different stuff at different times in the sale, so check back often.

Allan

another one coming up in September

I was in the local boutique a couple of days ago and the manager told me there will be a sale starting August 31. I plan to check it out.

40% off? So a 146 would be about 264 dollars? Hmm...

What do you have to do to be on this list? Just buy something there before the sale?

I went in to the local boutique and chatted up the salesman with a lot of technical questions about the pens and also purchased a couple bottles of ink and some accessories. Not a major purchase at all, but he added me to the list. I think he would have added me to the list even without the purchase, but since I needed ink (okay I didn't need the ink, but wanted a red ink to get my Christmas cards out of the way and thought the Bordeaux would be nice to have) it gave him an opportunity to take my information for his records.

I also scoped out their stock on older models, which I hope will be included in the sale. The manager told me the basic models like the black Meisterstuck 149 won't be included in the sale, but she doesn't have a list of what will be on sale.

Is 40% the usual discount for the sale?

This sounds great.... To bad we don't have a boutique in upstate NY.

The key is that it is an inventory reduction sale. And, like most sales of this type, the most popular items are not in need of having their inventories reduced. In the case of a fountain pen shop, that means very few F and M nibs, but a lot of EF, B, and BB nibs. Similarly, the models you really want (i.e., the 146 and the 149) are usually not on sale. The sale items are the less popular Boheme and Starwalker models. However, like all sales, you can strike gold. My advice would be to check it out -- but with realistic expectations.

Hi all,
charlieB is right about the sale it is for inventory reduction. 149 is NEVER on sale. And the resin 146 is never on sale. Some of the higher price items such as the carbon steel, the gold pleated 146 and the sterling silver 146 were on sale in March. However they are not 40% off, they are more like 20%~30% off. So most items were still upward of 800 plus. The only items that were 30~40 off were their watches. I picked up a flyback for 35% off and a carbon steel for 20% off.

The sale starts the first week of Sept. --Yes, it is mainly an inventory reduction, but MB never has to cut inventory on certain items(146,149,Starwalkers) so have an open mind and you can get a deal!--If there's no boutique in your area, call the closest and give them an idea of what you might be interested in. Then they call you the day it begins with a list of your wants that are on the sale and have them send them to you. That's how I've done it before I moved to a city with a store.

Is this an international thing that all Montblanc boutiques do? ie: available in Canada.
Thanks

Does "private sale" mean that walk-in trade is discouraged?
Krom

Yeah! Is this an international thing?

Does it happen in Malaysia? That be cool!

Also, is it for walk-ins?

I'm sure when I lived in Upper East Side NY that there was one in Macy's?

I've emailed Montblanc to find out the official word. Very excited to find out. If it's not in Canada gotta find out the closest one from the border

snip'
"Hi there, I recently was informed of a Boutique Private Sale occuring in the USA at the beginning of this September and was wondering if this is also the case for Canadian Boutiques.
Thanks very much.
Scott"