Pen stores in New York City?

January 25, 2007

My wife and I will be traveling to New York City in April and I was wondering if there are any pen stores that would be worth checking out. We have limited time to shop and will only be there on Saturday and Sunday, 4/21 and 4/22 so if anybody can recommend stores that are open either day and are in the downtown Manhattan, I'd appreciate it.

I know FPH has a showroom downtown but they only have M-F hours and they're having a small show but it's the weekend before we'll be there. Unfortunately, our plans can't change

January 25, 2007

Joon is a good place for browsing and one of the few open on Saturdays.

I'm not sure about Art Brown.

FPH is really a good place to visit but they are among the few stores closed all weekend.

www.katespaperie.com for locations all over the city but some Kate's stores have

better pen selections than others. Lots of Rhodia and Moleskine.

Altman Luggage near Chinatown. Not sure about weekends.

Two tips.

1. Do not shop at lunch time, eat with the rest of them or it is harder to get help in a store.

2. Treat the homeless nicely, you do not know which ones work for Trump.

Edited January 25, 2007 by PinarelloOnly

January 25, 2007

What brand are you more in to? I hardly ever make it to FPH since they're closed weekends and are only open when I'm at work.

Kate's Papiere has a very limited selection of pens, mostly Montblancs, Waterman, Lamy, and Parker, and they're all at MSRP. Not really worth it. I do love that store to go look at journals, cards, gift wrap paper, and pretty stuff

Art Brown is pretty good...has many brands, but they're closed either saturday or sunday (I think saturday). Call them beforehand. And the good thing is they're between Rockefeller Center & Time Square, 2 very touristy spots, so you can shop and sight-see easily. Their prices compare to FPH, it's pretty good. And they have tons of inks, rhodia, clairefontaine, and other stationery supplies.

Altman Luggage I like Not as much selection as Art Brown probably, but enough selection I guess & prices are really good if you pay cash. I like them a lot! However, it's on the Lower East Side and might be a little out of way or harder to find for tourists. It's possible they might be closed Saturday too

Joons, depends on which store you go to. A lot of them are really very very tiny tiny stores that don't have much pen selection...I was so disappointed after purposely hitting 3 of their stores and they're so tiny.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Betty

January 25, 2007

What brand are you more in to? I hardly ever make it to FPH since they're closed weekends and are only open when I'm at work.

Kate's Papiere has a very limited selection of pens, mostly Montblancs, Waterman, Lamy, and Parker, and they're all at MSRP. Not really worth it. I do love that store to go look at journals, cards, gift wrap paper, and pretty stuff

Art Brown is pretty good...has many brands, but they're closed either saturday or sunday (I think saturday). Call them beforehand. And the good thing is they're between Rockefeller Center & Time Square, 2 very touristy spots, so you can shop and sight-see easily. Their prices compare to FPH, it's pretty good. And they have tons of inks, rhodia, clairefontaine, and other stationery supplies.

Altman Luggage I like Not as much selection as Art Brown probably, but enough selection I guess & prices are really good if you pay cash. I like them a lot! However, it's on the Lower East Side and might be a little out of way or harder to find for tourists. It's possible they might be closed Saturday too

I haven't really gotten into a particular brand yet. The only one that I use (and have any experience using) at the moment is a MB but I'd like to broaden my horizons a bit. My wife likes the ones that have interesting designs on the barrel, especially if it has gold, jewels or something purple. She doesn't have a FP yet so she's just looking but she's also into journals and paper stuff so Kate's might be a good place to look for that.

We're staying out on the waterfront near Battery Park so Altman Luggage is actually closer for us to get to than Times Square and they're open on Sunday according to their website.

Joon is a good place for browsing and one of the few open on Saturdays.
...
2. Treat the homeless nicely, you do not know which ones work for Trump.

Joon has a Trump Tower location too so maybe I'll find some of those homeless Trump employees nearby. Think they'd like a pen?

Edited January 25, 2007 by dcom

January 25, 2007

The trump location is beyond crappy....it's like a little closet & lots of pens I asked to see wasn't availabe..and I only asked for common brands too like Pelikan Lamy..i was so disappointed when i went there thinking it would be big.

Altman luggage can be harded to find for tourist since it's a street name and it's not divided by street numbers and avenues, which are usually very easy to find.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Betty

January 25, 2007

The trump location is beyond crappy....it's like a little closet & lots of pens I asked to see wasn't availabe..and I only asked for common brands too like Pelikan Lamy..i was so disappointed when i went there thinking it would be big.

Altman luggage can be harded to find for tourist since it's a street name and it's not divided by street numbers and avenues, which are usually very easy to find.

Ahh, so that's the tiny one you were talking about...good to know, thanks.

And as far as finding things, my GPS receiver is like an American Express card. I never leave home without it. GoogleEarth will tell me where places are and I just put them in the GPS, which can give me walking directions.

Edited January 25, 2007 by dcom

January 25, 2007

HI,

you can call geoffrey and berni of beliner pens and make an appointment to see their pens. they are not opened everyday. they have vinatage and new pens--especially high end and expensive.

January 25, 2007

It's easy to get to Midtown from Downtown. 20 min on the train tops.

I love Art Brown to pieces--and I believe they are open on Saturdays and not Sundays. If I was made of money, I'd shop there more.

But DO NOT buy Moleskines there as they mark them up a lot. Most Barnes and Nobles in the city carry Moleskines and they charge the list price for them.

Rhodia/Clairefontaine you pretty much have to get at a Stationary Shop, so they're going to be marked up wherever.

November 14, 2012

I will be in NYC in a few weeks and would like to stop in some pen shops. I found several recommendations in this older thread, thank you!

Does anyone remember a place called Manish Signatures (or maybe Manesh Signatures)? I think they were in Manhattan. I bought from them many, many years ago. In fact, I think I bought my very first fountain pen from that shop. I have been unable to locate it using Google, but thought perhaps someone here might recall the shop. I want to say it was on Madison. Tiny, run by an Indian gentleman, I think.

November 14, 2012

I remember manish or manesh. Great little shop . I think it closed down several years ago, if I'm not mistaken. Does anyone know if Joons is still in ny? I've not been able to access their website last few times I tried to order.

Edited November 14, 2012 by vdiantonio

November 14, 2012

I remember manish or manesh. Great little shop . I think it closed down several years ago, if I'm not mistaken. Does anyone know if Joons is still in ny? I've not been able to access their website last few times I tried to order.

I don't know what the website was for Joon's but I did get a catalog from them not that long ago. I see they have Yelp reviews from earlier this year. They address shown there is 795 Lexington Ave and the phone is given as (212) 935-1007. It's too late tonight, but you could try them in the morning.

November 14, 2012

I know that Joons closed their store at Grand Central. Not sure if their main store is still open.

Best fountain pen stores are Art Browns (m,idtown: 45th between 5th and 6th), and Fountain Pen Hospital (downtown, City Hall area...between Church and Broadway about a block south of Chambers.).

Go to both places. Brown is open on Saturdays, but Warren and Marion (our East Coast "pen goddess") don;t work on Saturdays. FPH is open Monday - Friday...not Saturday.

Brown's has been selling pens for 88 years; FPH for about 70 years. Of the two, Art Browns has a better selection of inks -- almost any ink in production right on the shelves. FPH carries most of the books you'd want: the P51 book, the Vacumatic book, etc.

Visit both!!

November 16, 2012

I remember manish or manesh. Great little shop . I think it closed down several years ago, if I'm not mistaken. Does anyone know if Joons is still in ny? I've not been able to access their website last few times I tried to order.

I don't know what the website was for Joon's but I did get a catalog from them not that long ago. I see they have Yelp reviews from earlier this year. They address shown there is 795 Lexington Ave and the phone is given as (212) 935-1007. It's too late tonight, but you could try them in the morning.

Joon closed over the summer of 2012-Art Brown and FPH are your remaining stalwarts