Bureau Direct Is Gone :-(

my inks · March 15, 2019

Oh :/ I know I'm late to this but for some reason I never got that last email and I'm running out of Tomoe River paper so kept looking at the website to see when it'll be back up. :/

Thank you guys for posting about this, such a loss.

March 16, 2019

I didn't know these people and I just recently renewed activity here, but still, I feel for these people. I'm the sort of person who likes browsing in retail shops and over the years have seen so many retailers go under, especially in my specialty fields: music shops, bookstores, CD retail shops, movies (rental and purchase), and...fountain pens. So many times now I special order a book and upon examining it, realize that had I had the chance to see it before hand, I would have put it back on the shelf. And the absence of retail outlets has impacted my pen purchases, being unfamiliar with what exactly pen manufacturers use as a standard for classifying nib sizes. This morning I'm writing with an old favorite Pelikan F and I swear on the page it looks like a bold.

I hope it isn't too late for people to realize how important retail operations are.

March 16, 2019

10 days ago they sent out this message via e-mail to their subscribers:

"Hi

Back in January you very kindly agreed to sign up for an as-yet unknown email newsletter from us following the sad demise of Bureau Direct and the weekly Stationery Wednesday newsletter. We haven’t forgotten you, it’s just been a busy few weeks trying to work out what we would do next. And we don’t fully have the answer yet but it is coming!

In the meantime, stationery has become a little more stationary one might say, whilst we work on ideas from home.

We wanted to say thank you for signing up and we can hopefully bring you some stationery news in due course. What we have done though is launch a new dedicated business service called Ferrotype. Almost as soon as Bureaufirst opened its doors we had businesses responding to better quality stationery, asking for it to be branded with their name and logo. And so we always did that alongside the retail business. And now, we are doing it on its own.

Whilst we recognise that this will be of limited (maybe no!) interest to most ex-Stationery Wednesday readers, we also know that there might just be the odd one who wants, or knows someone who wants, branded notebooks and diaries and more. So if you do, head on over to Ferrotype (www.ferrotype.co.uk) and see what we can do for you.

Building on the success of Stationery Wednesday we may also start a new newsletter focused on…well that remains under wraps for now but if you would like to know if and when we do launch a new newsletter please remain opted-in here.
Oh, and should you ever need to contact either of us you can do so through the www.ferrotype.co.uk website.

Best wishes
Dominic & Jo

ps: Thank you once again for all the hundreds of nice emails we received after we closed down. It’s true that kind words and positive thoughts do keep the spirits up!"

my inks · March 18, 2019

Looks like I got removed somehow from the newsletter (checked my spam folder but nothing there either).

Thank you for posting their e-mail!

I wish them nothing but success and maybe they will be able to get back into retail in the future.

March 18, 2019

Looks like I got removed somehow from the newsletter (checked my spam folder but nothing there either).
Thank you for posting their e-mail!
I wish them nothing but success and maybe they will be able to get back into retail in the future.

The message came on Wednesday, March 6 and was not sent from Bureau Direct e-mail but rather from ferrotype.co.uk e-mail address--in case that helps with locating it.

my inks · March 27, 2019

The message came on Wednesday, March 6 and was not sent from Bureau Direct e-mail but rather from ferrotype.co.uk e-mail address--in case that helps with locating it.

Thank you! Haven't found it, but that's why FPN is useful. Getting the info in the end.

March 30, 2019

AFAIK, there are hardly a dozen decent stationery stores left in the UK. I have a feeling a few more might cease trading going forward.

I am unaware of any store having the variety of Cult Pens in the UK, thereby having a near monopoly.

OTOH, I only bought two items from Bureau Direct.

March 30, 2019

I was a semi-regular Bureau Direct customer, and before their closure spread my custom between them, The Writing Desk, and Cult Pens. Although Cult Pens has the most excellent range, I like to support other independent shops too.

Im really sad about BD going, they seemed nice & their service was always good.

March 30, 2019

One of the considerations I had, in choosing whether to buy from Bureau Direct or Cult Pens, was the shipping costs. The pricing of the products I looked at were often neck in neck between the retailers, depending on the day and whether particular promotions or discount codes were in play, but BD (not unreasonably) never offered free shipping to Australia, so if I was going to place an order for either a high-value item or a lot of items, I'd buy from Cult Pens; if I just wanted one or two bottles of ink, or something like a Monteverde Monza pen, then I'd order from BD because of the finely granular postage costs it would charge.

I suspect that, in the future, free international shipping offers will only affect the global market share (for this 'hobby', and of course many other consumer products too) more and more. US-based vendors have the advantage of a large enough domestic customer base, but I do hope that vendors such as Endless Pens will start to make an impact with reasonably low thresholds for qualifying for free shipping. Even Massdrop seems to have significantly lowered its shipping charges (to Australia, anyway) for items such as fountain pens recently.

April 1, 2019

Although Cult Pens has the most excellent range, I like to support other independent shops too.

For stationery,

Only Cult Pens. Basic stationery can be bought from supermarkets too.

For FP/Paper/Inks,

Cult Pens, The Writing Desk, Niche Pens, Hamilton Pens, Online Pen Company, Pen & Paper, Pen Heaven, Penbox, The Pen Company, Andy's Pens.

Since pricing is similar, IMO, the first three tend to get the majority of orders.

On the high street, it's just Rymans and The Penshop.

April 1, 2019

I suspect that, in the future, free international shipping offers will only affect the global market share (for this 'hobby', and of course many other consumer products too) more and more.

Cult and LCdC offer a seamless experience. Most of my friend's tend to order from these two apart from buying locally.

What retailers do you tend to use, preferably with free international shipping?

April 18, 2019

For those who miss Stationery Wednesday, Dominic and Jo have a sign-up form for their as-yet-unreleased email newsletter about stationery on Wednesdays (but totally not Stationery Wednesday) available here: https://mailchi.mp/43dc2a57d187/stationery-wednesday.

This isn't the same as the mailing list, and under European privacy protections the lists need to be opted-in separately.

April 20, 2019

For those who miss Stationery Wednesday, Dominic and Jo have a sign-up form for their as-yet-unreleased email newsletter about stationery on Wednesdays (but totally not Stationery Wednesday) available here: https://mailchi.mp/43dc2a57d187/stationery-wednesday.

This isn't the same as the mailing list, and under European privacy protections the lists need to be opted-in separately.

Thank you for this - I was a frequent customer of BD and very sad when they closed. Hopefully something will rise from the ashes.