Dymocks on George Street's seemingly never-ending ‘Pen Sale’

[A Smug Dill]

Disclosure / disclaimer: I do not work for Dymocks, directly or indirectly, and am not otherwise affiliated with the company or its owners. I just walk past it several times a week when heading uptown or on the way home, so I'm just putting a word in for a local business.

 

Dymocks on George Street in Sydney CBD is offering a selection of fountain pens (of different brands and countries of origin) at 30% off their regular prices, in the name of a ‘Pen Sale’ for which the sign hasn't been taken down since the height of COVID-19 related restrictions on movement in NSW. I didn't take note of them all, because brands like Cross, Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman, Kaweco and Retro 51 that were also there just don't capture my interest, but I did see six units of the Platinum Procyon (PNS-5000) including one Persimmon Orange (F nib), one Citron Yellow (F nib) and two Deep Sea (M nibs), which are priced lower than the Turquoise Blue ones sitting next to them in the same discounted goods cabinet near the front entrance.

 

There were also:

• one unit of the Platinum #3776 Century Bourgogne with gold trim (PNS-13000#71) and F nib in the same cabinet. At the 30%-off discounted price, it's roughly comparable to ordering it from overseas, say Cult Pens today (inclusive of 10% Australian GST which it now adds to list prices expressly, the 10%-off discount code in play, and ‘free’ shipping to Australia), or from Japanese sellers on eBay once shipping charges are factored in;
• one Platinum #3776 Celluloid ‘Calico’ (or ‘Stone Celluloid‘) with F nib; and
• one Platinum #3776 Celluloid ‘Midnight Ocean’ (or ‘Ocean Blue’) with M nib.

 

There were four Pilot MR Animal (if I'm not mistaken, two White Tiger and two Black Crocodile) pens on the same tray. Having owned more than half a dozen Pilot MR pens (including the oft-recommended Pilot MR Metropolitan), I just don't think they're good ‘beginner’ pens because of the step-down and the ineffective cap seal, and may give someone of little experience with fountain pens the wrong impression; and I'm confident fellow Aussies can order those more cheaply than $48.99-less-30% on Amazon.com.au, so they aren't really worth looking at either way.

 

Also, a Porsche Design Tec Flex fountain pen, and a Visconti travelling inkwell at 30%-off, among other pens I don't recognise.

 

There were two Lamy Scala in black, one Lamy Aion in red and another in silver (talking about fountain pens only; there were some Aion ballpoint pens next to them), in the adjoining cabinet that is also part of the 30%-off clearance campaign. A Cross Peerless 125 Darth Vader edition fountain pen, and the matching rollerball pen, too.

 

All colours that remain in stock of Monteverde Portable Ink Capsules still at 50% off. I saw five different colours in the cabinet yesterday, but notably no more blues.

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by A Smug Dill
Corrections, updates and more details; added disclaimer

[Jamerelbe]

Dymocks on George Street has become my "go-to" B&M store for fountain pens and associated products. Just grateful I live too far away to get there often - thanks though @A Smug Dill for letting me know what I'm missing!

 

[As discussed on another thread, I *did* pick up a Platinum Procyon there a couple of weeks ago, on a slightly-less-special special, plus a pink Kaweco Sport for my daughter, and one of the Monteverde Portable Ink capsules.  Kicking myself now that I didn't grab another couple!]

[A Smug Dill]

I remember seeing a Graf von Faber-Castell pen in the discounted pens cabinet, and it took a bit of effort searching for and browsing images online to identify it as a Intuition with Ivory fluted barrel. At the discounted price of A$315 it could have been worth a second look, but I wasn't sure which nib it had, or even that it's a fountain pen, so I dropped in to the store again on my way to dinner this evening and asked. Alas, it's only a rollerball pen.

 

When I told the sales staff the reason I was asking is that I posted about the shop's ‘pen sale’ on FPN, and wanted to capture the details of what I — and therefore presumably like-minded folk — would find interesting, he pointed out that, ”but, oh, we do have some discounted Graf fountain pens at 30%-off in the wall display cabinet further back over there.” I had a closer look today. One fountain pen is a Classic Grenadilla, and the other is a black Guilloche. (The third black pen there is actually the black Guilloche rollerball.)

 

Also discounted, not by 30% but probably 25% (I saw only the before and after prices, and not the discount percentage, on the shop's red sale pricing labels), are a whole bunch of Pilot Capless (Vanishing Point and Décimo) pens in different colours, a Justus 95 pen with fluted black resin barrel and gold trim, and some other Pilot pens in the Custom line: the Custom NS in five different colours; two Custom 74 demonstrators in different colours; a Custom Heritage 92 demonstrator; and an M-nibbed Custom 742 in deep red.

 

Next to those, a M-nibbed Justus 95 with gold trim; three Pilot Capless Fermo (two white and one green), a Pilot Capless matt black Vanishing Point with chrome trim as a standalone item, and another in a gift box package with a pen pouch (with a net price difference of $11.25 on account of that); a Pilot Capless ‘basic’ silver Vanishing Point in a gift box package with pen pouch for $217.50 after discount; a Stripes Vanishing Point in the same sort of package for more than double that (even though this particular gift set is nominally 30%-off as opposed to 25%-off); and a whole tray of ‘limited edition’ Décimo in various colours for $269 each after discount, with F and M nibs both available for the colours that appear as pairs in the following photo. (Note that the seventh pen from the left is a singleton.)

 

 

I don't think the thicker Vanishing Point pens on sale are as cheap as you could possibly find them ordering online from Australian retailers, but if you're specifically after a gift set with a pen pouch, perhaps these aren't as ready to be found at a lower price locally.

 

 

(I'm merely updating the posts instead of appending new ones in this thread, so not to disturb and perturb @Jamerelbe.)

 

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by A Smug Dill
Clean-up, corrections, and more details and images

[Jamerelbe]

@A Smug Dill you're killing me - is there some way to mute this thread so I can avoid being tempted 😱? 

[A Smug Dill]

When I dropped in this afternoon, I saw most of the unsold Platinum Procyon pens in the discount cabinet have been repriced, and now all colours uniformly show a price tag of $100 (before the 30% discount is applied). I don't think they managed to sell any at the old, lower price; so good luck to them!

 

Most of the Pilot Capless pens I saw before are still there, but the green Fermo appears to be gone, replaced by a third silver Fermo.

[Eccles]

What a shame that these pens don't show up on any web page; even when you choose the specific store, only their generic website comes up with a limited range of basic pens at full RRP.

I'm in Brisbane, so I won't be  popping in for a quick look in person.

Glenn.

[A Smug Dill]

I don't know when it was that Dymocks pulled out its well-used sign again, as I haven't visited the store since December; but when I dropped in on my way home from a run today, I could see the Pen Sale thing is on again.

 

No inks of interest, but only the last scraps of the half-priced Monteverde 50ml ink capsules it didn't manage to sell in all these months, and a bottle of Cross ink (which is of so little interest to me, I didn't even look to see which colour it is).

 

On 4/29/2021 at 10:44 AM, A Smug Dill said:

• one Platinum #3776 Celluloid ‘Calico’ (or ‘Stone Celluloid‘) with F nib; and
• one Platinum #3776 Celluloid ‘Midnight Ocean’ (or ‘Ocean Blue’) with M nib.

 

This pen was still there, so (against my normal preferences in nib width) I picked it up for half price. The #3776 Celluloid ‘Calico’ is (long?) gone, but it wasn't me who bought it; I got mine several months ago from an European retailer, for roughly the same price as what I paid today. Sitting next to it, in the discounted pens cabinet, is a Platinum #3776 Century ‘Shiun’. I didn't really take note of what the discounted price is, or check its nib width grade, but it did register that its price is somewhat higher than that of the #3776 Celluloid which has the same MSRP in the Japanese domestic market.

 

Some (six? seven?) of the colourful Pilot Capless Décimo limited edition pens are still there, and the sales attendant wanted to direct my attention to them, but I told her I already have a dozen Pilot Capless pens and am not really interested. I vaguely recall they're half-priced now as well, thus about A$175 apiece.

 

There were two Pelikan M405 Silver-White pens, with EF and M nibs respectively, for A$425 apiece. (Peter's of Kensington's price today for those is cheaper.)

 

Then there are of course pens and brands of no interest to me: Parker, Cross, Conklin, Kaweco, etc.

[AmandaW]

On 4/29/2021 at 8:44 AM, A Smug Dill said:

Dymocks on George Street in Sydney CBD is offering a selection of fountain pens

The only pens at the flagship Dymocks in Perth are Lamy (displayed in a sad looking half empty old fixture). And the only dedicated retail pen store I know of in Perth doesn't stock Platinum  either. Nor the online one.

[A Smug Dill]

Oh, and @AmandaW, the half-priced Pilot Capless Décimo pens include the pink ones (shown in the photo posted last May in this thread; I didn't take any photos today). 👹

 

[AmandaW]

25 minutes ago, A Smug Dill said:

Oh, and @AmandaW, the half-priced Pilot Capless Décimo pens include the pinks ones (shown in the photo posted last May in this thread; I didn't take any photos today). 👹

 

 

Of course.

 

Edited to add. And while you are perusing pens where was I? At the dentist.

 

[A Smug Dill]

53 minutes ago, AmandaW said:

Edited to add. And while you are perusing pens where was I? At the dentist.

 

Ah, at least you now probably have better teeth than I do! My wife would probably contend that having better teeth is a truer reflection of personal refinement and high social class than having an unreasonable hoard of toys pens.

[AmandaW]

1 hour ago, A Smug Dill said:

Ah, at least you now probably have better teeth than I do!

 

Unlikely. I am paying for the damage of a neglected childhood. I won't win. I think this is why I have fits of self-indulgence with the pens toys.

 

Now I am very curious about Sydney Dymocks. Our Perth store has a very small Millgram branded department within the store - that's where the Lamys live along with a minor range of other stationery. It all looks rather neglected and not a lot of stock these days, though it never was especially enticing. Is Sydney's a Millgram collaboration? I am guessing not, since you mention Platinum and Pelikan - brands which Millgram doesn't have.

[A Smug Dill]

Dropped in to Dymocks again today. The Platinum #3776 Century Shiun that was on 30%-off offer is gone. Two of the Pilot Décimo in limited edition colours (one pink, one brown) left, $175 each, both with M nibs; the mucus green ones with the F nibs were sold. Two Platinum Procyon pens in turquoise, both with M nibs, and one in persimmon with an F nib, for $49.99 each. A whole bunch of steel-nibbed Pilot Custom NS at half price, $120 each, which I really don't think Dymocks will be able to sell even so. Two opaque Pilot Prera pens (in navy and hot pink, I seem to recall) at 30%-off, so $49 each; at that price I'd say the Platinum Procyon is the better buy.

 

The two Pelikan M405 White-Silver pens at $425 each are still there; I told the sales assistant that Peter's of Kensington is still cheaper than Dymocks's sale price any day of the week for that pen.

 

It's a shame that the shape of the Platinum Procyon doesn't agree with my pen grip. More specifically, the chrome-plated rim of the connector at the mouth of the barrel is raised ever-so-slightly, and manages to irritate the crook of my thumb; if I write two pages with that pen in a single sitting, I get a callus right there. Users with a proper tripod grip probably won't encounter that issue.

 

On 2/3/2022 at 7:53 PM, AmandaW said:

Is Sydney's a Millgram collaboration?

 

Not that I'm aware.

[ParramattaPaul]

Love Dymocks.  They've profited a small fortune from me for my reading pleasure over the decades. 

[Jamerelbe]

I've asked the Dymocks Sydney folks before about their connection to Milligram - they tell me they're owned by the same parent company (and presumably therefore get their products through the same suppliers) - but they're distinct entities operationally.  Dymocks in Wollongong doesn't have anything like the stationery section in Sydney - unless they've introduced it recently?  Interesting that Perth's store has a Milligram branded department - I wonder whether they'll start doing that elsewhere?