Fahrney’s Pens sold to Writeside Holdings (Retro 51 Group), Drew Brown to become President of Fahrney’s.

[Penguincollector]

Press Release

 

    Hopefully this will keep this venerable store going. They always have some cool stuff stashed away, I hope this continues. I wonder what is going to happen with MontBlanc, as they have been pulling away from retail stores that aren’t company owned.

[senzen]

Hopefully that will mean Farhrney's will go on. Not going there while I lived in DC still ranks high on my list of "kick me, I'm an idiot" moments, even if fountain pens were low on my priorities at the time. The fact they probably didn't open on weekends when us working stooges could go didn't help.

[mulrich]

Hopefully this helps Farhreny's survive. It's sad when established retailers go under. 

[Barkingpig]

The nicest news I have seen in a good while.  I purchased two of my first pens from them, a Brown Tortoise m800 & a Yard of Led, both over the phone & their service was the BEST.  They sent my Pelikan away to have the nib swapped & then it shipped to me from the Distributor, saving me from having to mail it about.

 

I am also quite happy to see Mr. Brown "rehomed," so promptly & I am sure he will be an asset to the store.

[langere]

Yeah, this is probably good news.  I bet that Drew is going to drag Fahrney's into the digital age and start doing videos and other such marketing so that online sales increase.  They do have a great operation for online and catalog sales, but that has been, I suspect, underutilized.

 

Erick

[kestrel]

Their customer service is extraordinary.  They have helped me solve some seriously off-the-wall problems over the years, none of them caused by Fahrney's.  If I ever get back to DC I am bringing them cookies and shortbread.

[CraigN]

Hello all,

 

I never visited the shop.  While I visited the area for museums and memorials, we did not go downtown for other things.  Instead, we remember the Fahrney's participation in the DC Pen Show at the old Sheraton Tyson's corner location.  My wife bought a Pelikan M400 white tortoise from them and I bought a Visconti Ragtime anniversary edition pen.  Nice people, nice pens.

 

My favorite pen shop in the area was Pen Haven in Kensington, MD.  That ended several years ago with the passing of owner Bert Heiserman.  It is sad to hear about changes in pen shop ownership or outright closings.  I wish all of the best for Fahrney's.  I wish them well and hope that they thrive under their new ownership.

 

Regards,

Craig

[Targa]

I used to spend a lot of my time in DC, and visited Fahrney's often, starting way back before the relocation(s).  I had great fun buying fancy-schmancy pens for special meetings.  Fond memories.

In recent years, especially since Covid and no more face-to-face meetings with US Gov't, I have not had reason to go to DC, so have relied on mail order.  Unlike others in this forum, I had several very bad experiences with downright hostile and rude dealings when trying to track orders for which I paid expedited shipping, and they did not show up for weeks.  After the last bout (pre-Christmas 2023) I just stopped buying there. So, hopefully they will improve that aspect of the store.