Favorite Pen Dealers

[davidtaylorjr]

Who are your favorite dealers and why? Looking at new pen dealers, not used/vintage.

[Enkida]

Hello!  I'm in Germany, and I just know I'm missing out on a lot of good dealers, but I'm happy with the ones I've found to date and really don't see a need to expand further as of yet.   I'm also sort of middle-class in terms of pen preferences, so if you're looking for the best place to buy Montblanc in Germany, I probably don't know it.  (No, wait, I do know locally in my own city, and, it's Rüter, but that's not really my style since I'm more the TWSBI Eco and Pelikan sort.  Though Opus 88 is starting to catch my attention too, haha.)

Besides the local brick and mortar small shops and art stores, my favorite online shops that also ship internationally are: 

Papier & Stift - the owner has always been extremely reliable and honest, and while not chatty, the store lineup and custom shop ink she chose show that she has a personal aesthetic taste that coincides very nicely with my own.  Win!
https://papierundstift.de/

 

Fountainfeder - this shop has a bit more of a down-to-earth feel to it for me, and the owner likes sending personalized notes with candy in them to her customers.  It's a fun shop and it carries some hard-to-find inks and sometimes harder-to-find TWSBI colors, so I enjoy shopping here a lot, too.
https://fountainfeder.de/en/

 

Nice brick and mortar chains that have (or used to have; I haven't looked recently) very poor online representation are "Karl Rüter", a local chain stationary store with a very friendly fountain pen section and a very robust selection of journals (and Montblanc everythings, from pens to journals to inks).  The ladies working at the shop there know me personally, that's always a bonus, they shuttle me right to the Lamy section to display the new releases whenever I stop by, ahha! 

And a little less locally, but more well known is Cologne's Ortloff (https://www.ortloff.de/).  It is much, much more impressive in-person than it is online.  I haven't been there in two years, but the last time I was there the staff was very professional and very, very friendly.  Plus the store itself just has a nice ambience.  It's like you're walking into a Barnes % Noble of pens, stationary, and art supplies. 

If you're in Berlin, I happen to like a cute little boutique store called Luiban (https://www.luiban.com/en/), but they don't have a lot of stuff in stock online anymore these days, and they focus more on stationary and inks than fountain pens.  Also a shout-out to my favorite store for Japanese journal purchases and the occasional fountain pen ink, since the owner is the one who recommended Luiban to me. That shop would be Brevi Manu (https://brevimanu.de/).  Particularly the latter store I enjoy because of the tininess of the shop and the obvious knowledge and passion the owner has for the wares he sells; these little boutique stores are homages to the individualized writing experience in the face of Corporate.

I also used to like Seitz Kreuznach (https://www.seitz-kreuznach.de/en/) as well, and they do still ship internationally, but they really radically cut down on their fountain pen and ink selections over the years, so there's not very much left to choose from over there anymore.  A real pity, because they had the best shipping terms out of all the other shops pre-pandemic times.  They still carry interesting other things like soaps and spices and knives and such, but they don't really seem like a pen store to me anymore, just a store that happens to carry weird niche stuff like Ensso pens and Sailor inks.

 

Viel Spaß if you like shopping in (or from) Germany! 

[lionelc]

appelboom for their great service

 

nakaya for ms kato's near infinite patience

 

larrypost my local b&m/online hybrid

[Caneta]

https://www.cultpens.com/ great selection of new pens at competitive prices, always communicate and deliver quickly.

 

https://www.missing-pen.com  higher prices but often have hard to find NOS, especially Pelikans!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/missingpen

[Preserved_Killick]

Anderson Pens, because they're great people and provide knowledge and service.

 

Jet Pens, because their website is so well-organized, easily searchable, and they have a great product mix.

 

Vanness Pens, because they tend to bring the best ink selection to fountain pen shows.  And they're snappy dressers.

[CXC]

1. Pensachi.com has the lowest prices on new Sailor pens that ship to the USA.
2. Jetpens.com is the only store in the USA I have found that sells the Pilot Petit1.
3. I like to support Gouletpens.com because of their vast library of informative YouTube videos.
4. For the cheapest of the cheap, sniff around in aliexpress.com.

[ParramattaPaul]

On 2/20/2022 at 4:50 AM, Caneta said:

https://www.cultpens.com/ great selection of new pens at competitive prices, always communicate and deliver quickly.

Ditto.

 

[Enkida]

Gotta add Appelboom and Pen Venture to my EU list after their very nice customer service replying to emails I sent to them asking about nibs.  

[jchch1950]

Fountain Pen Hospital is one of the best dealers.

[PAKMAN]

Love Lisa and Mike at Vanness Pens! Wonderful selection of pens and all the ink you can imagine!

[Marioferu]

When you live in a small Central American country, you should  have shipping & handling costs in consideration. 
I’ve found that British online sites sell Asian an European brands at a very competitive prices and the Her Magesty’s Royal Post costs are very reliable and relatively cost affordable. This is one where I have found the most amazing deals:

 

https://www.andys-pens.co.uk/

[Caneta]

On 3/15/2022 at 6:16 PM, Marioferu said:

When you live in a small Central American country, you should  have shipping & handling costs in consideration. 
I’ve found that British online sites sell Asian an European brands at a very competitive prices and the Her Magesty’s Royal Post costs are very reliable and relatively cost affordable. This is one where I have found the most amazing deals:

 

https://www.andys-pens.co.uk/

some prices high, eg  Platinum Izumo Hon-urushi Raden Maki-e Aurora £3150 versus £2095 at https://www.cultpens.com

[mke]

La Couronne du Comte - competitive prices and good service. 

As I am usually buying XL quantities, they are unbeatable.

 

Japanese stuff I buy locally on Yodobashi.com and a few sellers on Rakuten. But that doesn't help you probably.

[stric75]

One of my favorite in the US is nibs.com, although, I have to admit, their offerings are a bit limited these days primarily due to supply chain interruptions and shortages. However, they’ve been quite competitive in the past in terms of price and over the years I've purchased many fountain pens from them.
Jetpens.com are also great because of a wide variety of everything and my go to spot for inks. 
My local store Art Supplies Uptown, here in Minneapolis, MN, USA. They tend to have decent fountain pens and ink in stock. Yet I have to say, that due to pandemics induced supply chain interruptions and shortages, their offerings have thinned out quite a bit. 

[amberleadavis]

https://www.dromgooles.com/ they are a wonderful family owned pen store.

[dftr]

Dan @ nibsmith is very reliable (though there is 2month wait on getting nibs ground on pens)

 

Kirk at PenRealm is responsive to emails and does a hell of a job w/ his flex nibs.  Again getting busier I assume and his flex nibs can take 4-6 wks to deliver.  

 

I prefer to buy pens from these guys just for the security of knowing it'll be great out of the box. 

[langere]

Lately, I've really liked Pen Chalet. Endless Pens has great prices too.

 

Eriick

[Carrau]

I didn’t see any of the Italian shops mentioned, so here are a few I’ve enjoyed as a customer:

Novelli in Rome

Santini

Casa della Stilografica
Giardino

Stilofetti in Rome

Stilograph Corsani

 

Then Chatterley Luxuries, Goldspot Pens, Peyton Street Pens, Birmingham Pens, Shigure Inks, Lemur inks, Franklin Christoph, Airline International, Izods.ink, Mr. Pen, Fontoplumo, Akkerman.

 

I have bought pens and related items from these and many of the retailers already mentioned, and have had no bad experiences with any of those mentioned to date.  What an embarrassment of riches, and how fortunate we are to have such a large number of reliable, service oriented merchants to deal with around the globe.

 

[langere]

Yes, although many pen stores have sadly left us (Swishers, Art Brown, Pen Haven, etc.), we still have many choices. 

 

And it appears that this is actually a time of fountain pen revival.  Rather than the large, corporate giants (some of which still exist), we have a Renaissance of small, high quality pen makers, from Santini Italia to Edison Pens, to Schon Design (and many, many more), that are bringing the industry to a new level. That's because the promise of the internet in having pen production companies reach their customers directly is finally being realized.

 

It reminds me a bit of the early pen-making days, when there was a proliferation of companies.  We seem to be in a period of atomization and lots of variety, which are good things in my book.

 

Erick

[alkman]

Locally, I go to Omoi Zakka Shop in Philadelphia which has a small selection of pens and ink as well as a fantastic paper selection. The folks who run the shop are really great to talk to and and know their products well. I'll also mention John Mottishaw at nibs.com. His site has some great eye candyand was the introduction for many to Nakaya...

 

In all honesty, I have had only one or two bad interactions with pen sellers. Most of the businesses are family outfits or else small businesses with a handful of core employees.

 

Almost forgot Bert Oser at Bertram's Inkwell!