Captainba's Cincinnati Fountain Pen Shopping Guide

[CaptainBA]

  On 5/18/2014 at 6:17 PM, Ink Blotto said:

Appointments is a great store. I'm almost afraid to go there now. I'll have to leave my wallet in the car. Spitzfaden looks like an interesting place. I'm surprised I never noticed it. If Poeme is worth a visit, let the FPN know. I guess I need to make a fountain pen specific trip back to Cincinnati.

IB

 

When I posted my Hello World introduction thread in the new members subforum, Ink Blotto suggested that I check out a brick and mortar store in Cincinnati called Poeme. Then after the visit, let FPN know how it was. I thought it would be fun to write a shopping guide for Cincinnati from my point of view. This might also be handy if you’re planning on going to the Columbus Pen show and was looking for a fountain pen related day trip. It’s about a 90 minute drive south from Columbus to Cincinnati Please keep in mind that I’m not affiliated with any of the stores or companies I list. I’m just shopping and sharing my experiences.

I also have a few more stipulations for this:

 

• I didn’t take any pictures just because I didn’t think of it. I plan on visiting all these stores again soon so I can return and add pictures

   

   

• This is not a comprehensive guide. If you know of a store in Cincinnati or the surrounding areas, please let me know.

   

   

• I’m not a native of Cincinnati so my locations might be a little off.

   

   

• I’m new to the fountain pen scene so I may have missed something. If you think I missed something or what me to check if a store has something, please let me know.

   

   

 

 

 

Stores I Didn’t Visit

 

• Richter and Phillips: Richter and Phillips is a jewelry store located in downtown Cincinnati. They carry Mont Blanc and Cross fountain pens. I saw Mont Blanc pens in the window but the store just straight up intimidated me. A little too high class and I felt like I should not be walking into the store in my normal street clothes.

   

   

 

 

 

Stores I Visted

 

• Barnes and Noble in West Chester

   

   

• Office Depot near Norwood or Oakley

   

   

• Staples in Kenwood

   

   

• Container Store in Kenwood

   

   

• Plaza Art Store in Kenwood

   

   

• Booksellers on Fountain Square located near Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati

   

   

• Poeme near Hyde Park Square in Hyde Park

   

   

• Appointments near Fountain Square in Carew Tower, located in downtown Cincinnati

   

   

• Spitzfaden Office Supplies, located in downtown Cincinnati

   

   

 

 

 

Barnes and Noble, Office Depot, Booksellers on Fountain Square

I was not too impressed with the selection of anything at these stores. Barnes and Noble as well as Office Depot are the national chains. Booksellers on Fountain Square is an independent bookstore in downtown Cincinnati. I’ve read in older FPN threads that have suggested that Barnes and Noble and Office Depot may carry nicer paper; perhaps even Rhodia. But I didn’t see anything but Moleskin and Leuchtturm notebooks at Barnes and Noble as well as Booksellers on Fountain Square. I’ve heard Leuchtturm notebooks are nice but still have bleedthrough. I’m not sure about them so I didn’t look too hard.

 

At Office Depot, I didn’t see anything fountain pen related at all. Perhaps they had some nice paper but I currently prefer Rhodia paper so I didn’t look too hard for anything else.

Staples

Staples has a surprisingly solid collection of fountain pens and related items. I guess I never looked too hard for the fountain pens but they have a decent selection for a national chain in my opinion.

 

There were Cross, Parker, and Pilot pens. On a special display were Cross Bailey, Cross Aventura, Parker IM, and Parker Sonnet fountain pens. There were also Cross and Parker ballpoints. Next to the display is a spinning rack with a bunch of blue and black fountain pen inks. I saw a bottle of black Quink ink, which was the only bottle ink they carried in store. I also saw Cross, Parker, Waterman, Sheaffer, and Franklin Covey ink cartridges in blue or black. If you’re into the Fisher space pen, Staples carried refills in the ink display as well. I think there were Cross and Parker ballpoint refills as well but I don’t see them in my notes.

 

At the end of the aisle, there were Pilot Varsity three packs and Sheaffer NoNonsense Calligraphy pens. Also something I haven’t seen very often, a Bic disposable fountain pen pack. I know them exist but I have not seen many reviews or talk about them.

 

Finally, if you’re interested in carrying cases or boxes for your pens, Staples has some.

 

Spitzfaden Office Supplies

I made a special trip to visit this store because I thought they would have a nice selection of Watermans, Parkers, and Sheaffers. This shop is an office supply store that seems to serve the downtown businesses. They promise 2 hour delivery of any order if you’re in downtown Cincinnati. And they’re only open from 8 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday. It’s nearly impossible for me to visit since they’re only open during work hours. I had high hopes but I was a little disappointed. They have Sheaffer Scrip, Waterman, and Quink bottled inks in red, blue, green, and black. In the front they have a couple of Sheaffer fountain pens, a handful of Parker Jotters, and some random rollerballs. And there wasn’t any notable paper on their shelves. I was pretty underwhelmed with their selection. I actually felt that Staples had a better selection and, more importantly for me, hours for buying.

 

 

Plaza Art Store

This is an art store chain in the area and apparently in other parts of the country, but I’m focusing on Cincinnati! They have an amazing selection of Rhodia paper; notepads, notebooks, and I even saw a Rhodia 3 pen pouch. They also have some other pen holders. I saw the Sheaffer NoNonsense fountain pen again as well as a bottle of black fountain pen ink. I think the brand was India? I can’t quite recall. There were also a bunch of Speedball calligraphy sets and oblique pen holders and a bunch of shellac inks for those pens.

 

 

Container Store

This store had a very limited selection of Rhoda pads. But what I like is all the boxes and storage options they have for pens, inks, and pen paraphernalia. The box I carry all my pens in and the tray I use to organize my ink bottles are from this store.

 

 

Poeme

This store is a specialty stationary shop that also carries fountain pen gear. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect because their website doesn’t have too much in the way of fountain pen gear. But I wanted to check it out on the basis that they were carrying J. Herbin ink. Inside they carry Lamy, Faber Castell, Graf Von Faber Castell, and Acme pens. I saw some Lamy Al-Stars and neon yellow Lamy Safari 2013 special edition. And the owner told me he carried the Faber Castell Basic, Loom, and I think I saw an Ondoro. Oh and he mentioned that they sold a few of the Lamy 2000s. I’m not too familiar with the Gran von Faber Castell or Acme pens though. For inks, they sell a few bottled Lamy and J Herbin inks.

The owner was also super enthusiastic about fountain pens. We had a nice talk about pens we liked and heard of, as well as inks. I really liked this store and I’m surprised that it hasn’t been mentioned on FPN sooner. This is my second favorite brick and mortar in Cincinnati for fountain pens.

 

Appointments

The more I read about brick and mortar stores, the more I realize how lucky I am to have a store like this in my city.They carry *SO* many modern pens. Pelikans, Faber Castells, Gran von Faber Castell, Lamy, Pilot, Yard-O-Led, Kaweco, are just some brands that come to mind off the top of my head. Their description has a listing of what they carry in terms of fountain pen brands. I just realized that they also carry Waterman pens that aren’t listed on the site. They also carry the Diamine ink line. I think it’s all of Diamine’s colors. I believe they have other inks behind the counters but they have the Diamine inks on display. Next time I’m in the store, I’ll have to find out what other inks they have. On this trip, I tried a Faber Castell Loom, Monteverde Impressa, Pilot Metropolitan, and Pilot Vanishing Point.

 

My absolute favorite part about this store is that the owners treat the store like a big toy store. They have no problem handing me *any* pen. I mean if I want to play with a $100 pen, they just hand it to you, and say go ahead and play. They’re just as excited about my Pilot Metroplitan as they are about the Pilot Vanishing Point. I always end up spending so much time there because they let you play with so much and are such nice people. Most of the pens in my collection are from that store. My very first Safari was also from there.

 

Every I walk into the store, I’m just overwhelmed. It’s a little shop dominated by a huge square of glass displays in the center. I’ve never seen such a selection or variety of modern fountain pens ever. In the back, across from the Diamine inks and Rhodia paper, they have a huge grid of drawers which have every converter and spare pen part imaginable.

 

The store also carries a lot of Rhodia paper, pads, and notebooks. It’s not as much as Plaza Art, but it’s a really good selection. And they definitely have more Rhodia than the Container Store.

 

The owners and salesmen never push sales and let you play with anything. I think this is dangerous because I always end up buying something. I walked out with a Pilot Metropolitan, M nib, a Parker twist converter for my Parker 45, and a Rhodia wirebound pad that I’m going to use as my ink sample notebook.

 

I also confirmed during this trip that Appointments works directly with the US distributor of Kaweco pens and that they do phone orders. If you send Kaweco pens back to the distributor for any reason, it actually ends up at Appointments.

 

Suggested Plans of Attack

If you only had time to visit a couple places, I would definitely visit Poeme and Appointments. Those are hands down my favorite pen stores in Cincinnati. And they’re relatively close to each other if you drive on I-71.

 

If you want to make a daytrip out of it, you can visit the Staples, Container Store, and Plaza Art Store all clustered in Kenwood around the mall. Then drive south on I-71S and visit Poeme in Hyde Park. Finally, get on I-71S and finish in downtown Cincinnati at Appointments and Booksellers on Fountain Square. The Kenwood stores are all within a 10 minute driving range. Appointments and Booksellers are about a 5 minute walk from each other. When I did my trip, this was my plan of attack.

 

There is also a Plaza Art Store very close to Appointments downtown. And Spitzfaden’s isn’t too far away from Appointments.

 

 

Questions, Comments, Suggestions

I am open to going back to any stores, adding pictures, and trying to answer questions as best as I can. And as I said above, if you know of a store in the Cincinnati area, please let me know. I’d love to know more about any paper options I missed as well as stores.

 

And if someone can help me with suggestions as to where to visit in Columbus, Indianapolis, Lexington, or Louisville, I would really like to make another guide like this for those cities. I like to travel and I like fountain pen brick and mortar stores!

[Sinistral1]

Great "review"!

 

FYI - Ohio was a hotbed of fountain production back in the day, when pens were being made everywhere and there were lots of companies in the business. It sounds like your interest is in modern brands, but there is great satisfaction to owning a working pen that was made in your town. This is a picture of my recently acquired Ingersoll, made in the Twin Cities during the 1910-20s. It sports a #2 Ingersoll Saint Paul wet noodle nib.

 

[CaptainBA]

I'm not originally from Cincinnati or Ohio so I don't really feel a connection here yet. That being said, there are a lot of pens that I've discovered that were made here and it would be fun to have a piece of local history. I've got some leads on where to go to find vintage pens so I'll be adding those to this guide when I finally find them. But since I'm new to fountain pens, my focus is skewed towards modern pens since that's what's currently available and easy to find.

 

Anywho, thanks for reading

[inkstainedruth]

Sadly, the only times I've ever been to Cincinnati were en route to somewhere else. And for me, I'd have to make a special trip, or go out to OPS a day early and stay over, then go to the show on Friday (I have a bad feeling that it's going to turn out that I will have a prior commitment for the rest of the weekend, just like last year, and only be able to day-trip the show on Friday like last year -- which is a bummer because I had a blast).

On a related note, I was in Columbus in April and poked around a few antiques stores and a nice little stationery store in the Short North section of Columbus in April; don't remember the name of the stationers' offhand, but they did carry the small (30 ml) bottles of some of the Herbin inks, and I think they had a few pens -- I remember a Waterman Carene for sure. One of the antiques malls had a Sheaffer Targa, but I was on a budget and they wanted more than I was kinda willing to pay, although it might have been an okay price. All of the places I went were along whatever road is the main drag through that neighborhood, which is between Downtown and the OSU campus -- my husband and I were going to a lecture and got to Columbus way early, just to make sure we could find the right building, then headed down to Short North to kill time before grabbing a quick bite (the lecture was at 7 PM).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for typos

Edited June 21, 2014 by inkstainedruth

[CaptainBA]

Next time I'm in Columbus I plan on trying to check out some antique stores around N High Street in the Short North Neighborhood. It would be really nice to have some store names though.

[Sinistral1]

Cap - the stars are in alignment for another round (flock, spat, gaggle, bunch, whatever term applies) of reviews. Are you ready?

[CaptainBA]

Sent you a PM Sinistral1

 

Also I managed to get a nice picture of Appointments. The shop is dominated by a ring of pen display cases carrying a ton of different pens. Today I looked at some Viscontis, Pilots, Kawecos, and Krones. And I got to see a Pilot Raden Vanishing Point in person! Oh and I bought some more Diamine inks!

 

http://i.imgur.com/hvZQMGc.jpg

[gweimer1]

  On 6/21/2014 at 10:18 PM, CaptainBA said:

Next time I'm in Columbus I plan on trying to check out some antique stores around N High Street in the Short North Neighborhood. It would be really nice to have some store names though.

 

1. Vintage Fountain Pen Sales

   Address: 3481 N High St, Columbus, OH

   Phone:(614) 267-8468

   His hours are generally about Noon-5:00

   There is parking in the rear of the shop, and you enter through a small alley to get there.

[torstar]

Was in town for a pair of Jays baseball games and came across Appointments in the shopping district beside my hotel.

 

Nice selection of pens, lots of ink (Diamine!!!) and friendly staff for a few minutes of chat about baseball and pens. Would have spent an hour there, but my father wasn't remotely interested in the store and was waiting for me to get out of there.

 

Bought a bottle of Mediterranean Blue for a lesser price than I have to pay in **cough** Canada **cough**....

[pen2paper]

Excellent review! Thanks for the photos too.

Though I used to pass through Cinci each year to visits family, the closest I manage now is Columbus.

"Appointments" sales/play philosophy would likely have me returning home with a new something or other too.

[white_lotus]

Thanks! I have some good friends in Cincinnati, and am hoping to got out to the Columbus show. Hopefully I'll get time to stop at a shop or two.

[CaptainBA]

Barring anything unforseen, I'll be at the Columbus Pen Show and I'll probably do some exploring of what Columbus has to offer. That being said, there's a whole summer for traveling .

[Ink Blotto]

Thanks for doing this CaptainBA. I need to get myself up to Cinti when I don't have social obligations taking my time.

 

I never thought about The Container Store carrying paper. I'll have to check that out.

 

If you get down to Lexington, KY check out Leather Inc. The prices are usually MSRP, but they have decent selection.

 

IB

[gweimer1]

  On 6/21/2014 at 9:34 PM, inkstainedruth said:

Sadly, the only times I've ever been to Cincinnati were en route to somewhere else. And for me, I'd have to make a special trip, or go out to OPS a day early and stay over, then go to the show on Friday (I have a bad feeling that it's going to turn out that I will have a prior commitment for the rest of the weekend, just like last year, and only be able to day-trip the show on Friday like last year -- which is a bummer because I had a blast).

On a related note, I was in Columbus in April and poked around a few antiques stores and a nice little stationery store in the Short North section of Columbus in April; don't remember the name of the stationers' offhand, but they did carry the small (30 ml) bottles of some of the Herbin inks, and I think they had a few pens -- I remember a Waterman Carene for sure. One of the antiques malls had a Sheaffer Targa, but I was on a budget and they wanted more than I was kinda willing to pay, although it might have been an okay price. All of the places I went were along whatever road is the main drag through that neighborhood, which is between Downtown and the OSU campus -- my husband and I were going to a lecture and got to Columbus way early, just to make sure we could find the right building, then headed down to Short North to kill time before grabbing a quick bite (the lecture was at 7 PM).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for typos

 

The stationary store is called On Paper. 737 N. High. 614-424-6617. www.onpaper.com

[inkstainedruth]

  On 6/24/2014 at 10:12 AM, gweimer1 said:

 

The stationary store is called On Paper. 737 N. High. 614-424-6617. www.onpaper.com

Yeah, that sounds right. Nice little store, but I was on a tight budget so I only poked around. Although if they'd had had a better selection of colors, I might have picked up some of the Herbin ink -- little bottles or not.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[NCGibbon]

My inlaws live in Cincy, actually Northern Kentucky, and I have had Appointments on my list for a while. I will need to get them to take me down there next time we come to visit. Thanks for the review.

[pruitthall]

Just returned from Cincinnati...took our grandson to the Reds/Pirates triple-header. Will say: CVG is blessed to have a store like Appointments. We went in on a Saturday morning and I thought I had died and gone to pen heaven...what a place! Inked up an ST Dupont for me and made me feel like one of the family. This is how pen stores should be, everywhere!

 

Definitely going back, and definitely asking for the Dupont for an upcoming birthday!

[gweimer1]

  On 6/21/2014 at 10:18 PM, CaptainBA said:

Next time I'm in Columbus I plan on trying to check out some antique stores around N High Street in the Short North Neighborhood. It would be really nice to have some store names though.

 

On Paper is a stationary store on N. High. They are primarily as their name says, but they do carry the J. Herbin ink in limited colors, some quill pens and a small offering of fountain pens in the case.

[CaptainBA]

  On 7/14/2014 at 9:53 PM, pruitthall said:

Just returned from Cincinnati...took our grandson to the Reds/Pirates triple-header. Will say: CVG is blessed to have a store like Appointments. We went in on a Saturday morning and I thought I had died and gone to pen heaven...what a place! Inked up an ST Dupont for me and made me feel like one of the family. This is how pen stores should be, everywhere!

 

Definitely going back, and definitely asking for the Dupont for an upcoming birthday!

 

Hooray! I'm glad you went and checked out Appointments! It's easily my favorite pen store I've been to...not that I've been to many but it's great there. Glad to know this review helped someone