Wondering about the trend on fountain pen popularity

[penwash]

Case 1: Lamy opens a brick and mortar store in San Francisco Market district.

Case 2: Anderson Pens are opening a store in Chicago.

The above cases are only what I know about here in the US, and I'm hardly one that is plugged into the "news" in the FP community.

We all know how expensive it is to open a store, and to keep it open selling niche products.

So I'm wondering if the rise of popularity in boutique stationery items is real and not just imaginary to those who wish it.

Thoughts?

[AzJon]

A Lamy specific store seems to me to be a very weird choice. Were I to still live in SF, I would probably go once for the novelty, but that's about it. That said, not a huge Lamy fan, so that locations desirability is a bit lost on me. Cool of them to offer nice paper and notebooks and such, but I can't begin to imagine how a pen shop will stay open on Market st. in the second most expensive city in the country. Rent down there has to be insane.

I think Anderson has much better odds of succeeding if for no other reason then they have an online capability to side-fund the venture. Combine that with having a vast selection of pens, inks, papers, and Anderson Pens limited edition pens, and I think they stand a real shot at making it. What they do/offer is more diverse.

[GTG]

To be fair those are large Cities. If it trickles down to large towns they I will really take notice but anything that happens in NY, LV, SF and places like that I cant take seriously

[myu]

I agree, that's a bit unusual! I'd expect with the advent of cheaper prices on-line, brick & mortar stores focused on writing instruments would be closing, not opening. I have seen on occasion a news article here or there about nostalgia... it certainly has happened in the audio industry where turntables are making a comeback due to all the music on vinyl being stamped out now. Maybe people are starting to do the same with pens? To write by hand rather than type on an electronic device. Hmmmmm.... All it takes is one celebrity to show off a beautiful pen being used for more than just signing an autograph (like jotting in a journal) and maybe something like that helps trigger a resurgence. There are so many sheeple.

[KrazyIvan]

What about all the stores that have closed in the past couple of years. I think that outweighs two stores that have opened.

[manoeuver]

watch.

[rluka]

For the Lamy case, it's an official brand store, in a prestigious (is it?) location.
That kind of thing could be less of a retail outlet and more like expensive advertisement board.

[amk]

If you listen to the interview Brian Goulet did with the CEO of Lamy, Bernhard Rosener, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGf475MD5UE, the shops are as much as 'laboratory' as a sales venture or advertising - Lamy uses them to experiment with different methods of presentation and different product ideas which can then be used in partner retailers. So that's not a typical shop opening as it's part of their marketing cost rather than part of the sale ledger, so to speak.

[Kaputnik]

I really like my Lamy 2000, but don't particularly want another. I'd be interested to see a Dialog 3 demonstrated, and to compare it with my Pilot Capless pens, but I don't know that I'd buy one, especially for what it would probably cost in a boutique store. Maybe I'd pop in now and again if they carried ink and notebooks, although if it was only Lamy ink I probably wouldn't bother. So whatever kind of customer Lamy would be aiming at with such a store, it wouldn't be me.

An Andersons' store might be more interesting to me if they dealt in vintage pens as on their web site. And I'd expect more variety of inks and papers, if they can keep their prices low enough to compete with online dealers. Still, it seems like a gamble.

[Jon Szanto]

The Lamy store is just a step or so beyond a "pop-up" shop, is only their merchandise, and they already have said it is an experiment. It could go away in a flash and not affect the company at large. As to the Anderson store, time will tell. The biggest aspect of the mini-boom in the pen world is young buyer's and they are bottom-line, buy-online folks. We'll see if they will support a store, though if the Anderson online business is good enough it may hold up the B-and-M operation as well.

[Jerome Tarshis]

The Lamy store is very small. Even smaller than that suggests. Lamy is a large enough company so that they can spend whatever that store costs them for an indefinite time. This has nothing to do with economic rationality, company balanced on a knife edge, anything like that.

Speaking as one who has spent much of his adult life in the company of graphic designers, I'd say the shop is an exercise in visual presentation. It is not a harbinger of any revival in fountain pens.

A different San Francisco enterprise, the Itoya shop on Union Street, said to be Itoya's first shop in the United States, opened with a fair number of fountain pens for sale, but rather soon cut back, having found (according to the very pleasant staff) that they weren't doing much FP business. The distinction here is that Itoya is a genuine chain of retail stores in Japan, whereas I can't imagine that northern Europe is speckled with Lamy-only shops that bring Lamy important returns.

None of this is a harbinger of anything. If 1952 comes around again, we'll notice without any need to conduct inquiries on message boards.

[penwash]

None of this is a harbinger of anything. If 1952 comes around again, we'll notice without any need to conduct inquiries on message boards.

It may come as a shock to you that I wasn't wondering if 1952 comes around again.

I was simply wondering if the popularity of fountain pens among a small percentage of younger people could sustain a trend as I outlined.

[dneal]

The Lamy store is very small. Even smaller than that suggests. Lamy is a large enough company so that they can spend whatever that store costs them for an indefinite time. This has nothing to do with economic rationality, company balanced on a knife edge, anything like that.

Speaking as one who has spent much of his adult life in the company of graphic designers, I'd say the shop is an exercise in visual presentation. It is not a harbinger of any revival in fountain pens.

A different San Francisco enterprise, the Itoya shop on Union Street, said to be Itoya's first shop in the United States, opened with a fair number of fountain pens for sale, but rather soon cut back, having found (according to the very pleasant staff) that they weren't doing much FP business. The distinction here is that Itoya is a genuine chain of retail stores in Japan, whereas I can't imagine that northern Europe is speckled with Lamy-only shops that bring Lamy important returns.

None of this is a harbinger of anything. If 1952 comes around again, we'll notice without any need to conduct inquiries on message boards.

FWIW, Lamy in Europe (Germany in particular) is ubiquitous. Department stores, discount stores, grocery stores, stationary stores, etc... all have a Lamy display.

[dfo]

FWIW, Lamy in Europe (Germany in particular) is ubiquitous. Department stores, discount stores, grocery stores, stationary stores, etc... all have a Lamy display.

Exactly. Lamy is ubiquitous in Europe, but has barely cracked the market in the US besides selling fountain pens online and in fine writing shops. They sell much, much more than the 2k and safari. I could see the San Fran store being a lucrative marketing campaign much like Apple stores. Lamy's main factory in Heidelberg, Germany is pretty small in a weird industrial neighborhood. However, the factory is very modern.

Maybe we might see Lamy products in Walmart in 10 years. lelelelellelelel


Concerning Anderson Pens, I think that a small store in Chicago could last. They can sell at the local and national levels to stay afloat—especially because they have an established online presence.

[Jon Szanto]

None of this is a harbinger of anything. If 1952 comes around again, we'll notice without any need to conduct inquiries on message boards.

One assumes "including the above erudite comment".

[marcelomelgaco]

What about all the stores that have closed in the past couple of years. I think that outweighs two stores that have opened.

I agree.

Reminded me of that important and historical store that closed in NYC in 2013. Art Brown, right?

[marcelomelgaco]

What about all the stores that have closed in the past couple of years. I think that outweighs two stores that have opened.

I agree.

Reminded me of that important and historical store that closed in NYC in 2013. Art Brown, right?

Oops...

Just found out it have reopened. Cool!

[Medieval]

Do you think that fountain pens will ever be as popular as they used to?

[dfo]

Do you think that fountain pens will ever be as popular as they used to?

Maybe more popular than in 2010, but not as popular in 1950. There is no way.

[grainweevil]

Do you think that fountain pens will ever be as popular as they used to?

Maybe more popular than in 2010, but not as popular in 1950. There is no way.

Unless they discover a catastrophic side effect to all those little balls used in ballpoints, gel pens, rollerballs, etc.