Photos from our Vancouver Pen Shop get-together/November meeting ~ Part 1

Many thanks to the Vancouver Pen Shop for hosting our November get-together! I knew it'd turn out to be more of a party than a regular meeting lol, but the party atmosphere was only fitting, as the following day (November 18) was the store's last at this location. Happily, their new location at 555 Howe Street is supposed to open on November 23 (ie. later today)!

VPCer Sherman was kind enough to document the evening with his phone and trusty selfie stick, so here are the photos he snapped last Thursday at our get-together at the Vancouver Pen Shop (thank you, Sherman!!)...

 (all photos courtesy of Sherman ~ please click on images to enlarge)

As you can see, the shop had a full house that night! (I counted 26 VPC members in attendance) 

Our meeting started at 6:30pm and went to nearly 9:00pm. Fortunately, the till was still open for in-store purchases, and a lot of our members took advantage of the store's big sale :)

That's Fernie and Marlon behind the till, in the photo above. The store's owner Margot (wearing a white turtleneck sweater) is to Fernie's right, and ever-helpful Sunshine (who's worked at the Pen Shop for 13 years, I believe) is at the very back of the store assisting customers. Store manager Shannon (wearing a knitted toque, in the foreground of the photo) is trying to duck out of sight lol

Sherman with Margot, the Vancouver Pen Shop's gracious owner...

Above: Jacqueline (who was kind enough to help out that night) and longtime Vancouver Pen Shop stalwarts Shannon & Fernie behind the counter. On the other side of the counter are Rene (peeking out of the photo's left side), Alvin and Sherman. 

Shannon and Fernie started working at the store 27 years ago (there's a nice article on the Pen Shop's history here) and enjoyed looking at some of the pens our members brought in for the evening's themes ("Green Fountain Pens" and "Your Favourite Pen Purchased from the Vancouver Pen Shop"); we'll be featuring some of those pens in Part 2 of our blog post. I forgot to photograph the pens Alvin and Sherman brought in--sorry, guys!--but they're on the counter in Sherman's photo above (update--Sherman sent me photos of the pens he brought; they're in part 2 of the blog post!).

(L-R) Nathan, longtime Vancouver Pen Club member (and loyal Van Pen customer) Stuart and Sherman (note: there's a clearer picture of Stuart in the second set of photos I'll be posting lol)

(L-R) Alvin, me (Maja), Yen, Sam and Sherman standing by the store's front doors; you can see some of the window's Christmas display in the background.

The Vancouver Pen Shop has been at this location since 1986, but due to renovations on this heritage building, they had to move this month. The new location (at 555 Howe St.) is half a block from the Dunsmuir Street entrance to the Pacific Centre Mall, and just one block from the Granville Skytrain station. I can't wait to see the new store!

(L-R) Alvin, Maja, April, Louise, Amy and Sherman. The Van Pen staff thoughtfully provided food for us to nibble on while we chatted and shopped :)

That's our photographer Sherman with Amy (far left) and April, who both joined our club last month and attended the October meeting....

... and that's Sherman standing next to Nathan, who is holding his recent stellar pen find (which you'll see in the second set of photos). New VPC member Phil and Rene are in the background looking at some pens; Phil bought a really nice Pilot fountain pen that night that you'll also see it in part 2 of our meeting report.

(L-R) Sherman, Yen, Liz and Maja. I didn't realize just how much ink the store carried! You can see some of the bottles in the upper right of the photo. Apparently, the store's new location is even more spacious!

Margot in the background talking to one of our members (Linda C, I think) while Sherman, Rene (with hat) and Sam pose for a great photo :)

That's new VPC member Vladan in the middle, flanked by Yen and Sherman. Vladan was brave enough to take on the 2022 Vancouver Pelikan Hub "Hubmaster" duties for this year's event (which was held the day after this meeting). Behind them (talking to Fernie, behind the counter) are (L-R): Phil, Liz, Julienne and brand-new pen club member Sophia.


Our thanks again to the lovely folks at the Vancouver Pen Shop for their hospitality -- we had a blast talking pens, inks & paper with you (and each other) and reminiscing about your wonderful store. We wish you all the very best at your new location in downtown Vancouver!

(The Pen Shop gang posted some more photos from this evening on their Facebook page here *and* on their Instagram account here that you can enjoy until I post Part 2 of this blog post later this week ;) Update -- Part 2 of the meeting photos posted here!

(~Blog post by Maja~)