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In Praise Of Brick & Mortar


Gloucesterman

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Yes, the Internet is wonderful and there are definitely some great vintage & new pen dealers out there - BTW, no affiliation to anyone...

 

Sometimes you get lucky in a way that is only possible in a brick & mortar situation. That's what happened for me yesterday. I will share the highlight:

 

Backstory: About 18 months ago, just before Christmas I went to a special sale at the local second hand store that takes donations from the community and sells the stuff to raise money for the local food pantry and shelter. Just before the Holiday they sell some of their "saved up ", probably more valuable vintage goodies". I bought a ball point and fountain pen set. It was (and still is) a Waterman C/F - the first cartridge fill pen Waterman made (18k French fine(?) nib. Paid $18.00. What I later found out was that regular Waterman cartridges no longer fit, are hard to find and the converter for the pen, if you can find it in working order can cost a lot. I had two old, dried out cartridges but I'm not a big fan of refilling them.

 

Fast forward to yesterday:I am going into Boston for a meeting. (When I do that and have the time I always visit Bromfield Pen Shop.) I decided that I'm going to bring the Waterman set with me on kind of "fishing expedition". I go into the store and say "hello" to the owner, Fred. Well, my opening remark, after the greeting to him and the woman, Mary, working with him is, "Fred, by any chance, do you have a converter for a Waterman C/F?"

 

Fred's response, there is a pause and... "Yeah, I think I do. I found it in an old box of stuff that I recently bought." :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: Well duh....

Okay, it looks pristine and it fits. "Fred, how much do you want for it? Pause... "$x.xx" Yes, DONE!!!!

The moral of this story is, Sometimes you just have to ask! And it's much more fun at a B&M.

Ahhh, the sweet mysteries of life!!!!

 

P.S. Thank you Fred, you made my day and my visit to Boston 10x happier!

P.P.S. Of course I was so happy I also bought some other goodies.

P.P.P.S. Now all I need is to find a replacement for the ball point refill for the other pen in the set. Heck, I'll even accept a medium point :lol: :lol: :lol:

“Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today, because if you do it today and like it, you can do again tomorrow!”

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I am lucky to have three pen "stores" in the area I can walk into. We used to have four, but Swisher's closed. There are more populous areas in the US have no stores.

 

I try to support them, but it's hard to beat the variety and price of some of the online vendors, who in my opinion provide equally good service for their business model.

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I'm jealous of anyone who has a good local Fountain Pen Shop. I console myself by going on holiday to places with coincidently good FP shops

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I am lucky to have three pen "stores" in the area I can walk into. We used to have four, but Swisher's closed. There are more populous areas in the US have no stores.

 

I try to support them, but it's hard to beat the variety and price of some of the online vendors, who in my opinion provide equally good service for their business model.

 

if I had three store that close I would be working for at least one or perhaps all three.

 

Yes, it can be a bit frustrating sometimes.

 

As someone who has a "marketing mind" I used to talk with dealers and offer suggestions to improve their reach and create better customer relations. What I found, even with a large fp store with multiple locations, almost of all of them think ONLY RETAIL (stand there, WAIT for people to come in and give good service - hopefully). They are not willing to think outside their own door, except maybe to create a website.

 

They can't be faulted too much. It's the way they have operated successfully for many years and making major changes can be a big risk mentally AND financially (although, as Goulet has proved there are effective alternatives.

 

No affiliations just wish they were willing to promote themselves and their unique abilities more.

“Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today, because if you do it today and like it, you can do again tomorrow!”

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Yes, the Internet is wonderful and there are definitely some great vintage & new pen dealers out there - BTW, no affiliation to anyone...

 

Sometimes you get lucky in a way that is only possible in a brick & mortar situation. That's what happened for me yesterday. I will share the highlight:

 

Backstory: About 18 months ago, just before Christmas I went to a special sale at the local second hand store that takes donations from the community and sells the stuff to raise money for the local food pantry and shelter. Just before the Holiday they sell some of their "saved up ", probably more valuable vintage goodies". I bought a ball point and fountain pen set. It was (and still is) a Waterman C/F - the first cartridge fill pen Waterman made (18k French fine(?) nib. Paid $18.00. What I later found out was that regular Waterman cartridges no longer fit, are hard to find and the converter for the pen, if you can find it in working order can cost a lot. I had two old, dried out cartridges but I'm not a big fan of refilling them.

 

Fast forward to yesterday:I am going into Boston for a meeting. (When I do that and have the time I always visit Bromfield Pen Shop.) I decided that I'm going to bring the Waterman set with me on kind of "fishing expedition". I go into the store and say "hello" to the owner, Fred. Well, my opening remark, after the greeting to him and the woman, Mary, working with him is, "Fred, by any chance, do you have a converter for a Waterman C/F?"

 

Fred's response, there is a pause and... "Yeah, I think I do. I found it in an old box of stuff that I recently bought." :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: Well duh....

Okay, it looks pristine and it fits. "Fred, how much do you want for it? Pause... "$x.xx" Yes, DONE!!!!

The moral of this story is, Sometimes you just have to ask! And it's much more fun at a B&M.

Ahhh, the sweet mysteries of life!!!!

 

P.S. Thank you Fred, you made my day and my visit to Boston 10x happier!

P.P.S. Of course I was so happy I also bought some other goodies.

P.P.P.S. Now all I need is to find a replacement for the ball point refill for the other pen in the set. Heck, I'll even accept a medium point :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Glad you had a nice experience at Bromfield's - I always try to stop in there on the way up to Chelmsford. When I was in there last, Mary let me know about the Graf's pending discontinuation of the Intuition Platino Grenadilla that I loved so much and they had one left. I wouldn't have known if I hadn't spoken to a nice human being :)

 

Also, they have a really nice half price sale going on here.

Edited by stevesurf

Best regards,
Steve Surfaro
Fountain Pen Fun
Cities of the world (please visit my Facebook page for more albums)
Paris | Venezia

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I got to Bromfield's when I was up in the Boston area over the holidays. Picked up a Pilot Metropolitan, some ink, and a Rhodia pad with the French rule pages (sorry don't remember the term -- starts with an s).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

"It's very nice, but frankly, when I signed that list for a P-51, what I had in mind was a fountain pen."

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Slight thread derail -> For anyone visiting Berlin.

 

I consider myself very lucky, there are 4 shops within 20 minutes walking distance that sell ink and pens: J Herbin, R&K, Pilot Iroshizuku, Sailor, Omas, Sheaffer, Caran d'Ache, Pelikan Edelstein, MB and other artisan inks. Pens from; MBs, Pelikan, Lamy, Parker, Cross,

 

Papeterie

 

KaDeWe

 

Manufactum

 

There is also a brick-and-mortar store with the best prices on Pelikan pens that I have seen

 

Zeichen Centre

 

And finally in Berlin there is also fantastic shop that stock TWSBI, great staff who took time with me when I was there last and they even let me take a TWSBI 580AL at the same price as a standard 580

 

Luiban

Matt

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am fortunate to have a local brick and mortar store, Penbox in the lovely village of Epworth, North Lincolnshire.

The proprietor, Steve, is very helpful and knowledgeable, and his prices generally won't be beaten on or off the net. The blog keeps one up to date on what's new in stock, offers etc. - and if he can get something for you, he will. The NOS items are a treasure trove.

I rarely leave Penbox empty-handed!

Edited by tce

"I am a poure dyuel, and my name ys Tytyvyllus... I muste eche day ... brynge my master a thousande pokes full of faylynges, and of neglygences in syllables and wordes."

Myroure of Oure Ladye, I.xx.54

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