Fountain Pen Stores In San Francisco

[ItsMeDave]

Im currently visiting San Francisco and have stumbled upon the MB and Lamy stores. Disappointingly, the prices in the Lamy store are more expensive than back home in Canada.

Any other stores I should check out?

 

Cheers,

 

David

Edited November 14, 2018 by ItsMeDave

[ItsMeDave]

I’ve tried twice to fix the typo in my post, but it isn’t taking. Hmmmm

[MapleFox]

Hi! I live in the Bay Area. You can try Maido in Japan Town. Its a great little Japanese stationery store with papers, notebooks and some good fountain pens. Last time I was there I saw that they had some beautiful Pilots that were only available in Japan! They also have Metropolitans, Kawecos, you name it.

 

There's also a store called Castle in the Air in Berkeley. Its a little bit of a drive but you can just take the Bay Bridge to Oakland and Berkeley's the next city over going north. Castle in the Air is on Fourth Street. Its more of an arts and crafts store, but they have very interesting gifts and a nice selection of fountain pens. They had Visconti, Pilot and TWSBI last time I was there.

 

I hope this helped!

[ItsMeDave]

Thanks, MapleFox, Ill check em out.

[ErrantSmudge]

You can also try Flax in Oakland, across the bay. They are an art supply store with a fine pen department. If you are still in town this weekend, they have their annual Pen Faire this Saturday 11/17, where you can meet company reps and try out pens firsthand, and get a 20% discount. They also have a good line of fountain pen inks.

 

https://flaxart.com/pen-faire

Edited November 14, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[them700project]

If I were you I would get in a car and drive down the coastline to Big Sur then turn around and stop in Carmel and stop at Bittners

[ItsMeDave]

You can also try Flax in Oakland, across the bay. They are an art supply store with a fine pen department. If you are still in town this weekend, they have their annual Pen Faire this Saturday 11/17, where you can meet company reps and try out pens firsthand, and get a 20% discount. They also have a good line of fountain pen inks.

 

https://flaxart.com/pen-faire

I might be able to make it on Saturday.

[ItsMeDave]

If I were you I would get in a car and drive down the coastline to Big Sur then turn around and stop in Carmel and stop at Bittners

Unlikely to happen, maybe next time.

[ElinMS]

I had no idea there was a Lamy store in SF. The high prices don't surprise me though - it's SF after all.

[ItsMeDave]

I made it over to Flax, didn’t have anything that interested me, and it’s now unlikely that I’ll be able to visit the store when the company reps are on hand Saturday.

Maido, on the other hand, had many items that interested me, I walked out with a Namiki Falcon with a medium soft nib, a Sailor Pro Gear Classic Imperial Black with a medium nib, and a Sakaetp Notepad with Tomoe River paper.

I was also keen on a Pilot 823 smoke and Sailor ebonite KOP.

 

Cheers,

 

David

[sharonspens]

I made it over to Flax, didn’t have anything that interested me, and it’s now unlikely that I’ll be able to visit the store when the company reps are on hand Saturday.

Maido, on the other hand, had many items that interested me, I walked out with a Namiki Falcon with a medium soft nib, a Sailor Pro Gear Classic Imperial Black with a medium nib, and a Sakaetp Notepad with Tomoe River paper.

I was also keen on a Pilot 823 smoke and Sailor ebonite KOP.

 

Cheers,

 

David

 

Sounds like a good shopping day for you!

[Bookman]

I made it over to Flax, didn’t have anything that interested me, and it’s now unlikely that I’ll be able to visit the store when the company reps are on hand Saturday.

Maido, on the other hand, had many items that interested me, I walked out with a Namiki Falcon with a medium soft nib, a Sailor Pro Gear Classic Imperial Black with a medium nib, and a Sakaetp Notepad with Tomoe River paper.

I was also keen on a Pilot 823 smoke and Sailor ebonite KOP.

 

Cheers,

 

David

 

When FLAX was located on Market between Valencia and Gough, it was a much better store for fountain pen enthusiasts than it has been since it moved. Its paper/notebook selection and ink selection were much wider before the move. FLAX used to be the store for me and my wants. Now it's Maido. Glad you made it there.

[ItsMeDave]

The first thing that caught my eye in the Lamy store was a yellow Safari, I have a thing for yellow.

So I gave the pen a try for the heck of it.

I’ve tried Safari’s in the past, I guess it was when I first got into fountain pens and hadn’t yet learned to write cursive all over again. I didn’t like the triangular grip section, now that I can again write cursive, the Safari grip feels perfectly normal and comfortable. How things change.....

I’ll probably pick one up when I get home.

[FarmBoy]

Are you around on Sunday afternoon?

 

Pen club is meeting in Millbrae about 30 minutes from SF.

[ItsMeDave]

Are you around on Sunday afternoon?

 

Pen club is meeting in Millbrae about 30 minutes from SF.

Bummer, I’ll be back in Vancouver by noon on Sunday.

[FarmBoy]

Bummer, I’ll be back in Vancouver by noon on Sunday.

Saturday?

[ItsMeDave]

Saturday?

I’m heading out to the East Bay to meet some friends, not back in San Francisco until Saturday night.

Flying Sunday morning.

[ItsMeDave]

I swung my Maido today, I was considering picking up that smoke 823, but they were closed due to the smoke. Hmmmm.

[coinlvr]

Is the Pilot Metropolitan at Maido in Japan Town different than the one I order from Target or Walmart? I paid 12.49 for the one from Target's site. I mean do they have better prices on this pen. Or should I just get pens from Japan directly through Rakuten?

[ItsMeDave]

While out in the East Bay today I managed to swing by Castle in the Air, sadly, nothing interested me.