Support your local pen shop :)

Happy BC Day! Now that our province is well into Phase 3 Reopening, I thought it'd be a good time to remind anyone looking for writing instrument supplies to consider shopping locally. We're fortunate to have so many pen stores in the Lower Mainland, and I know they'd appreciate your patronage and support in these difficult times.

Here's a list of some Vancouver-area stores that sell fountain pens and inks:

• The Vancouver Pen Shop - 512 W Hastings Street, Vancouver (store moved to 555 Howe Street in late November 2022) - official Facebook page
• Charals - 171 Robson Street, Vancouver -official website
• Nikaido - 3580 Moncton Street #150, Richmond (Steveston) -official website
• Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery - 2141 W 41st Avenue, Vancouver -official website
• Paper-Ya -1666 Johnston Street #9 (Granville Island), Vancouver -official website
  
• Warriors & Wonders - 555 W 12th Ave #21 (City Square Mall), Vancouver -official website
• Opus Art Supplies - various locations in BC - official website
• 1912 Amax Stationery - 2120 W 41st Ave, Vancouver; Metropolis at Metrotown; Coquitlam Centre - official Instagram account
• Perks - 123 Carrie Cates Court (Lonsdale Quay), North Vancouver - store closed due to the COVID-19 global pandemic

Many thanks to VPCer Christopher for the image of the old advertisement above. In his email, he writes:"I ran across an old 1930s Parker Vacumatic in-store ad. The repro was not incredible, so I enhanced it and colourized it, marrying it with a snap of one of my favourite Parker sets. The strange thing about it was that both the ad and my set hail from the same year. Makes you wonder if one of the Vacumatic sets in the dealer’s cabinet in a Vacumatic clamshell display box could actually be mine. Dream on Christopher, but nice thought!"

Stay safe, everyone!
~Maja