Stationary Stores

[CraigR]

I am bemoaning the demise of the old fashioned stationary store. I am thinking of the ones popular before the modern Hallmark stores. When I was a kid, my mom and grand mother would go to a really cool store that had just about everything related to paper, ink, and pens. They did custom work like stationary and cards on site. The back room was filled with printing press, embossers, folding machines, etc. Mom ordered personal stationary and note cards from them. I also remember a long counter that was filled with writing instruments of every type. This would have been in the late fifties. Different times. I wish we still had such a place as this.

[Fermata]

I agree with you Craig, one of the last few remaining is a store in Harrogate, Yorkshire called Jespers. I appreciate that it is a long way from you

 

 

https://www.jespersofharrogate.co.uk/

 

Full range of cards, writing equipment, stationery, board games

 

Here is a pic of the inside/outside

 

I know that there is a great site for pen shops around the world, something similar for stationers would work well.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Parkette

[CraigR]

Parkette, those are great photos! I also remember a store that was one half a stationer and the other half was a book store, new and used. Buying online, but I miss the bricks and sticks stores.

[inkstainedruth]

There's a place kinda like that in Pittsburgh: Kards Unlimited, which part card shop, part book store, part novelty shop. And yes, they sell pens! Not anything I can afford (expensive Auroras and Sheaffers) but I have bought several bottles of modern Skrip ink.

There's also a place in downtown Pittsburgh, Weldin's, which, sadly, is a shadow of its former self -- they moved out of their own building into the first floor of a skyscraper, and now are in about a quarter of their former space. They still have an actual pen counter, but their selection was pretty grim the last time I was there. And the parking is much worse. If I want to go there, I try to schedule when I have appointments with my allergist and take the bus. Then, if I have time, I take the T uptown a couple of stops, walk the several blocks over to Weldin's, then of course have to walk back to the Steel Plaza T station, take the T over to the Wood Street Station, and then walk a couple of blocks back to the the bus stop....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[CraigR]

We were fortunate when we lived in southern California to be able to visit Vroman's bookstore and stationary in Pasadena. Great selection of pens,papers and inks. There is also a great vintage (and modern) pen dealer and repair shop in Monrovia, The Fountain Pen Shop. Both are like candy stores to me. Many an hour and dollar have been spent in each. Nothing like that around where I now live in western North Carolina.

[Corona688]

Those look an awful lot like a modern art store. Less games and decorations and such but lots of papers and writing instruments. They still hang on, I think, because mail-order is so far away and the uniform junk in department stores(we still have them - they just don't call them department stores anymore) is just so awful.

[KLscribbler]

I guess I should count myself blessed that there are still stores like that here in Kuala Lumpur.

 

One of my favorites is a shop called Czip Lee, which carries a wide range of pens, paper, ink, office supplies, art supplies, school supplies, and so on. It's nice to have a shop where schoolchildren buying exercise books, office workers coming in to grab some extra printer cartridges and box folders, artists restocking their supplies of paper, brushes, and paints, and fountain pen obsessives checking out pens and bottled inks all mingle around in the same space.

 

That store has a very well-stocked fountain pen section, which would be the best in KL if not for the existence of PenGallery (a more upscale FP-focused store in a different part of town, not a general stationery store). On the other hand, Czip Lee has by far the best selection of dip nibs and holders I have ever seen in a brick and mortar store. I can't think of another shop where one can find multiple different types of oblique holders in one place, and be able to compare them in person before purchasing. Simply splendid.

 

That said, my absolute favorite part of that shop is the top floor - the paper supplies section, which feels like Borges's library of all possible books, except with paper instead of books. That floor has an old-world-forgotten-library atmosphere to it, what with the Byzantine variety of papers stacked in wooden cabinets and piled up in rolls and sheaves in every corner. It's a fun place to get lost in for a couple dozen minutes.

 

Fortunately, most stationery stores here in KL seem to be doing well. I hope it stays that way.

[Tasmith]

Borden's in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ is very close to an old fashioned stationery store. Always enjoy going there to shop and browse.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Tasmith

[Corona688]

Michael's in Canada is the absolute antithesis, also. It's technically got the right pieces, but puts them together in a very roundabout manner. The product you're looking for might be buried in the section for gluing glitter to things. Because that's the only thing that size brush is good for. A certain kind of pen? You'll find that in postcarding, along with glitter ink and rubber stamps. Etc.

 

Everything they haven't shoehorned into lifestyles involving gluing glitter to things gets lumped into two 'fine arts' aisles, hidden far in back where products dessicate with years of neglect. Even there, the lifestyle-package mindset isn't escaped. Neither is the glitter.

[kazoolaw]

 

 

 

 

 

<pssst-it's stationEry>

[dapv]

Could not agree more. As was mentioned earlier "many an hour and (in my case a half dollar) were spent there". Back in the sixties, going to the village stationary was as common as going to the cobbler, butcher, barber shop, bread bakery, etc, etc. And, one sunny summer day during the late sixties I happened by a stationary in another town just as they were taping a handwritten sign to the window "help needed". I had the job within in minutes and stayed for sometime to come.

 

Today, no matter where I am, if I spot a bookstore and or stationary I'm in there for at least an hour - well, two hours if it's a bookstore. And of course, I never leave w/o making multiple purchases. I find these places to be very peaceful.

 

For those of you in this area, there's the Quill & Press in Acton, Massachusetts which is a 3rd generation shop.

 

Thank you, CraigR, for beginning this thread.

[CraigR]

Yes, it is. I missed it in my original post. Thanks

 

 

 

<pssst-it's stationEry>

[Runnin_Ute]

There used to be this office supply place - paper galore. I think it was called Arvey Paper. Kind of a "big box" office supply store, before OfficeMax, Office Depot and Staples started popping up everywhere. At least compared to traditional office supply places. They would have samples of each paper out so you could feel it, scribble on it etc. These were nice papers. Laid papers, parchment papers and others, like what you might use for a resume. Back in the days when you sent a paper resume, not an email or an attachment to a ATS. (applicant tracking system) I still buy nice paper for resumes. Have mostly cream colored right now, but used gray for years. I ran out of gray.

 

I was looking through some pen boxes earlier this week, found the one for my Parker Insignia set and the one for my Parker Classic set (these were BP/MP sets - both Flighter style). One of them still had the cash register receipt and on the back was stamped with a rubber stamp "Central Office Supply" and the address tucked into the slot where the little booklet Parker put in them was. I don't recall the exact date, but it was probably late 80's or early 90's. I returned the receipt to its place. Central Office Supply has been gone for years. On a lark because of this I did a google search. Found them. The name has changed, but the address has not. Bluefin Office Group is the new name. From the website it sounds like the product of a merger of three companies including Central Office.

Edited February 17, 2018 by Runnin_Ute

[Corona688]

There used to be this office supply place - paper galore. I think it was called Arvey Paper.

Could that have been Avery? Now days they just make sticky labels for sale elsewhere but I've heard they used to be big stores in their own right.

[CraigR]

In California, Kelly Paper is a large warehouse type store that offers a large selection of paper and commercial printing supplies like ink. Although their main focus is the printing industry, they do have papers that work quite well with fountain pens and ink. You can buy single sheets or reams but there are no free samples. There may be other similar stores in the rest of the country.

[Runnin_Ute]

Could that have been Avery? Now days they just make sticky labels for sale elsewhere but I've heard they used to be big stores in their own right.

No, it was different than the label company.

[Conan the Grammarian]

Aren't all stores stationary?

 

 

I'm with you on the demise of old-fashioned stationery stores. There were some good ones when I worked in San Francisco, but Staples and Office Max seem to have chased them out of business.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Conan the Grammarian

[CraigR]

Aren't all stores stationary?

 

 

I'm with you on the demise of old-fashioned stationery stores. There were some good ones when I worked in San Francisco, but Staples and Office Max seem to have chased them out of business.

I love the cartoon!

[Tasmith]

I love the cartoon!

 

+1

[wags]

Joe Rodgers Office Supply in Cleveland, TN has a nice selection of fountain pens. Not so much in the way of stationery. They also sell proper mechanical clocks. Not far from Chattanooga.

 

They are only open during bankers hours, so don't be showing up late in the evening or on a weekend.

 

Definitely worth stopping by if you are in the area.