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Art Browns Has Closed


welch

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The great Art Brown's has closed after about 89 years in the pen business. I spoke with Terry W., co-owner of Fountain Pen Hospital (FPH) and a close friend of the Browns, who said that their rent was to be increased so much that Marilyn and Warren could not keep the shop.

 

They were at 45th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues: the middle of Midtown Manhattan. Land value and rents have been crowding out many of the older stores that made Manhattan fascinating. Luxury hotels, luxury condos, wine stores, fancy clothing stores, up-scale restaurants, chain sandwich stores (lunch-time crowd), Starbucks: all might make it.

 

Take care of your remaining real fountain pen store, if you still have one. You can ask questions: people like the owners of FPH have been in the pen business since they were kids.

Washington Nationals 2019: the fight for .500; "stay in the fight"; WON the fight

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Very sad to hear this - a familiar story in the current financial climate.

Pens and paper everywhere, yet all our hearts did sink,

 

Pens and paper everywhere, but not a drop of ink.

 

"Cursive writing does not mean what I think it does"

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Always sad to hear of a pen shop closing. I was hoping for another trip to New York in a few years and visiting the pen shops.

 

But it goes to show us, that we need to support the local and small.

 

I am in Northern Ireland, and we have no dedicated fountain pen shops at all any more. (Gone before I got into pens)

 

There are a couple of shops that could pick up a Lamy safari or maybe a cross pen. And in supermarkets maybe a Parker Jotter and some parker cartridges, but that is it.

 

When I am looking for a purchase, I always try and buy from a UK retailer, otherwise they will go too.

 

It might be a little cheaper to buy from Ebay, but its not helping the community.

 

Just my soapbox rant for today.

 

Ren

http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/8703/letterminizk9.png http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/7260/postminipo0.png

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Oh no. That's a terrible shame. It was a wonderful shop.

 

Respect and commiserations to those who kept it going so long, in spite of the current financial /land grabbing mentality.

 

Bad news!

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Bummer :( :(. I was just there last June. They were so knowledgeable and so gracious in letting me look at the pens and in trying out some. I bought a nice Sailor 1911 and Iroshizuku inks, was hoping to go back there on my next trip. I hope they can open someplace else, they don't deserve to close!

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Ah, what a blast. I was going to buy something from them- but their site is already closed down. I think I'll buy some ink or something from the FPH before they have to shut down.

 

All the best,

 

Sean :(

https://www.catholicscomehome.org/

 

"Every one therefore that shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father Who is in Heaven." - MT. 10:32

"Any society that will give up liberty to gain security deserves neither and will lose both." - Ben Franklin

Thank you Our Lady of Prompt Succor & St. Jude.

 

 

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Bummer :( :(. I was just there last June. They were so knowledgeable and so gracious in letting me look at the pens and in trying out some. I bought a nice Sailor 1911 and Iroshizuku inks, was hoping to go back there on my next trip. I hope they can open someplace else, they don't deserve to close!

That's what I think, they are relocating in a lower rent place, after all they don't have to waste the prestige gained through many years, hope they survive.

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It was the saddest closing I have ever been to.

 

I just couldn't go. So many memories.

Washington Nationals 2019: the fight for .500; "stay in the fight"; WON the fight

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What a pity :( Very sad thing indeed

Pens are like watches , once you start a collection, you can hardly go back. And pens like all fine luxury items do improve with time

 

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Is the art supplies shop going to continue? For me, a child of Manhattan, employed in advertising during the 1950s and 1960s and a friend of graphic designers, Art Brown's was a wonderful art supplies shop. A fairyland for artists. Not especially a pen shop. The pen shop was a subsidiary enterprise, and it may not have existed when I knew the primary shop.

 

Is that still going? Now that I live in San Francisco I enjoy Flax Art for its fine pens department, but if that disappeared there would still be an awful lot for artists to buy at Flax. (Informed sources tell me Flax is still selling a lot of FPs.)

 

[Edited to insert: After some Web researches I've gotten the idea, perhaps mistakenly, that the wonderful art supplies shop I remember, Arthur Brown and Brother, turned itself into the pen shop, so there aren't two different shops at all. Considering that pens would seem to be the hothouse flower and general art supplies the bread-and-butter business, it seems odd and charming that the shop went from no special emphasis on pens to being an outstanding source for currently manufactured pens and inks.]

 

In New York soon after 9/11 I remember going to Pearl Paint on Canal Street when Canal Street was the farthest downtown that authorities allowed people to go unless they lived or worked in the area. With or without pens, Pearl Paint offered five stories of art supplies, and appeared to be thriving the day my friends and I visited. It was the mother store of a national chain that has closed many of its shops, including the one in San Francisco. The bricks-and-mortar art-supplies shop is also an endangered species, although here in San Francisco we still have perhaps more than our share of them.

Edited by Jerome Tarshis
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Several activities cannot pay anymore the costs to remain open, particularly in expansive areas, because of the low margin or profit, or small size of sale.

 

But they could also re-organize the business, moving in less expansive part pf the town, or becoming online shops, if they want to continue.

 

Also because of the recession we are living, this is very common nowadays here in Europe.

 

Is sad, but inevitable.

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What I find odd is that this place couldn't make it, yet every big mall in America has a Mont Blanc store. Perhaps MB is just losing money to keep their shops open for advertising purposes, but surely they can't be doing more business than Art Brown. I suppose combined they are, but any one MB store probably isn't selling more monetary volume in one day than AB did in one day. I guess that's just proof that the big corporations will outlast the mom and pops.

 

I know they've been in business a long time, but perhaps they could get a cheaper studio space somewhere to store their inventory and offer their pens online. Then, maybe twice a year or once a quarter, they could offer a Studio Sale where they invite guests to come look at their inventory and purchase pens at a discount. Offer up some light refreshments and demo some inks and pens. It would be a lot of fun and the internet might give them the exposure they need to keep the lights on. Their Studio Sales would probably create a lot of buzz and people would look forward to it, maybe even saving their money for the quarterly sale at the Art Brown Studio Shop...

 

Either way, I hope they enjoy their retirement and that they understand what an asset they were to the FP community. I'm new to FPs and never had a chance to shop with them, but I would have loved to. Perhaps I will someday if things get better for them.

 

I think I'll go visit my local mom and pop gun shop today and see what they're up to. This has me inspired to support them. I could use a lever gun anyway. :D

No, that's not blood. That's Noodler's Antietam.

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Heymatthew, when Montblanc sells a pen to a retailer, a 900€ street priced pen gives them 200-250 or something. When Montblanc sells directly through their boutiques, the pen makes them 900€. Why giving the margin to a supplier, when they can keep it for themselves ? In a short term strategy and a short-sided view, it sounds like a clever plan.

 

Regarding Art Brown closing, in the market watch topic, someone talked about a $50k rent. This is completely insane, and what happens when everything is deregulated, and the "laisser-faire" just leads to greed. Only big multinational companies can afford such rents, and they can even use ploys to deduce some from their taxes, if accounting is done "cleverly" (Apple and the scandal from a month ago shows it).

 

I wonder more and more if it's still possible to start a profitable business without registering it in Hong Kong or in the Caiman Islands, nowadays.

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