Photos from October meeting at Buchan's! (part 1)

Last Thursday (October 26), Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery hosted our October get-together at their lovely store in central Vancouver 😁.

There were over 50 attendees, so it was a full house, but it didn't seem overly-crowded as the store is spacious and has a good layout. Both Sherman and I snapped some photos during the event (Sherman's pics--part 2 of the photos-- were posted here on our website), so without further ado, here are the photos I took!

(all photos below taken by Maja ~ please click on images to enlarge)

VPC members and other attendees started trickling in just after the 6:30pm start time…
 
Buchan's has three main aisles---a nice selection of stationery (notebooks, journals, etc) and everyday non-fountain-pen writing instruments in the far left aisle, fountain pens, other fine writing instruments & inks in the center aisle, and greeting cards and gifts in the far right aisle. The store had renovations done after melting snow flooded the store at the end of December last year … and the renos look great!

There was a special nib-testing event going on during our little get-together, organized by Nathan (on the right side of the photo), who has an excellent pen review channel on YouTube called "Doodlebud".

The nibs being tested were three Medium width JoWo nibs-- a regular steel nib, a black oxide steel nib, and a 14K gold nib -- installed in three standard-sized Esterbrook 'Estie' (modern) fountain pens. The nib testers wore blindfolds so they couldn't tell which nibs they were using, and then they were asked which of the three nibs they preferred. To find out the results of these tests, subscribe to Nathan's YT channel so you'll know when he posts the video there.*Update* The video was posted here in early November: Doodlebud video- "Answering The BIG Fountain Pen Question - Gold Or Steel?"

Above: Longtime Vancouver Pen Club member Glenn Marcus trying out the three JoWo nibs (spoiler alert! Glenn preferred the 14K gold nib ;)

Looking on are (left to right): Vladan (wearing a red sweater), Andrew, Chuck, Stewart, Gaelen (hidden in the photo above--you can see him in the other pic), Deborah, longtime VPCer Barry (hidden in both photos!) and Asifa.

The store was open for business (to attendees) during the event, and there were a lot of staff members on duty --that’s April at the till-- to help us with our purchases...

We saw some friendly new faces that evening (that's VPCer Sherman in the middle of the photo with (L-R) Maria, Oscar, Rumi and Reem)...

...and we saw many familiar faces, including VPC members Rene (right, wearing a hat) and Marissa (left side, with her back to the camera).

Our resident nib repair guy Jerred (left) talking to Chris (who came to his first VPC meeting that night), while Grant (in the background) peruses Buchan's selection of fine writing instruments from a wide selection of pen companies. The store is well-stocked with fountain pens at every price point, and has an excellent selection of fountain pen inks.

 

Above: Buchan's owner Inna (in the turquoise top) handing out door prizes, while her helper (a very young customer who's a very serious fountain pen fan 😀) calls out the winning ticket numbers.

Buchan's and the L.S.F. Group of Companies (exclusive Canadian distributors of Lamy, Faber-Castell, Platinum, Monteverde, Conklin, Private Reserve, Visconti & others) generously donated pens (lots of Lamy 'Safari' and Faber-Castell 'Grip' fountain pens) and ink (several bottles by Monteverde and Octopus Fluids) for the door prize draws.

VPC members Asifa and Stuart both won store-exclusive glossy black Lamy 'Safari' fountain pens with "Vancouver Buchan's" (and a small maple leaf) on them!

Brand-new member Matthew (who attended his first VPC meeting that night), with James and Shona (who both joined our club in August) browsing in the background...

 

Collin (far left), another brand-new member of our club, also came to his first Vancouver Pen Club meeting that night. Buchan's owner Inna (on the far right of the photo) was busy helping customers throughout the evening. Despite it being busy, the event was very well-organized and a lot of fun.

Above: A closer look at Buchan's beautiful pen display that became part of the (newly-renovated) store this May. The display holds a large selection of writing instruments, and has two pen & notebook testing stations for customers to use with a variety of nibs and fountain pen-friendly paper.

Our thanks to the hard-working staff of Buchan's (above: Cat, Camila and Yugo)…

...and the store's ever-helpful manager, Irena, for being so patient while serving so many pen-loving customers that evening :)

(In addition to being part of the Buchan's team, both April and Yugo are active members of our pen club!)

The event at Buchan's wound down at around 9:45pm (the time flew by so quickly!), after a very good time was had by all in attendance. Our warmest thanks to Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery (especially Inna, Irena, and Yugo) for hosting our October meeting at their wonderful store and organizing this special event for our club 😊!

If you're in the area, stop by Buchan's and see all the cool products they carry -- the store is located at 2141 West 41st Avenue in Vancouver, and is open 7 days a week for your shopping convenience (official website/web store: Buchanst.com).

(*Note: Part 2 of this blog post ---Sherman's photos from our evening at Buchan's --- was posted here)

(~Blog post by Maja~)