Charals now closing its doors on *September 9th* !

Yes, another update!
Charals' closing date (& sale!) has been extended to SEPT 9th! 😀
This was posted on their Instagram account earlier today:

I messaged the store yesterday via Instagram, and they confirmed that the store will be closing its physical store permanently on September 9, 2025, so you have a few more days to take advantage of their clearance pricing (and wish Shelina & her staff all the best before the stores closes its doors permanently) !

Check out their official Instagram account ( https://www.instagram.com/charalsvancouver/?hl=en ) for more information and any updates, in case this newest info changes. Their web store (https://charals.com/) is open for your shopping convenience and will be open again after the physical store closes, with a brief break as they update their online store's inventory.
Many thanks to Charals for 39 great years in Vancouver!! 💛
~Maja

Charals store new closing date! (**SEE UPDATE POSTED AUGUST 27th**)

Yes, Charals' closing date (and SALE!) has been extended to the end of AUGUST! 😀

(**SEE UPDATE POSTED AUGUST 27th -- STORE NOW CLOSING ON SEPTEMBER 9th**)

This was posted on their Instagram account earlier today:

Check out their official Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/charalsvancouver/?hl=en for more information. Their web store (https://charals.com/) is open for your shopping convenience!

Charals store closing date (and sale!) extended to end of July 2025! (*UPDATE* - now closing END OF AUGUST!)

(UPDATED INFO - STORE WILL CLOSE AT THE END OF AUGUST 2025--SEE https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/07/charals-closing-at-end-of-august-2025.html/)

I visited Charals  on June 19 and was happy to hear that the store will close no sooner than the END OF JULY! This is an extra month for you to visit the store in-person, but don't wait too long to pay the store a visit before it closes permanently!

One thing I noticed at the store yesterday was that almost all of the writing instruments and inks had bright red sales stickers on them, whereas the online prices for these same items had a mixture of sales prices and regular prices, so I highly recommend shopping IN PERSON for the best deals. 

Charals is located at 171 Robson Street in downtown Vancouver (less than one block from B.C Place). The store's regular hours are: Mon-Fri: 10am – 5:30 pm and Sat 10am - 5pm; closed Sundays and all public holidays. Charals' web store will remain open after their physical store closes, so if you can't visit them in person before they close, you can still shop their online store at https://charals.com/  
 

Charals store closing 😔 (*info below updated July 28*)

(announcement posted on Charals' Instagram account on April 2, 2025)

Sadly, after 39 years, Charals will be closing their store sometime this summer 😭.
I got in touch with Charals' owner Shelina earlier this week, and she told me that the store might close as soon as the end of  this month (June), (UPDATED INFO - STORE WILL CLOSE AT THE END OF AUGUST 2025--SEE https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2025/07/charals-closing-at-end-of-august-2025.html/)

Charals is located at 171 Robson Street in downtown Vancouver (less than one block from B.C Place). The store's regular hours are: Mon-Fri: 10am – 5:30 pm and Sat 10am - 5pm; closed Sundays and all public holidays. Charals' web store will remain open after their physical store closes, so if you can't visit them in person, you can visit their web store at https://charals.com/   
 
Our warmest wishes to Shelina & her family, and thanks to everyone at Charals for 39 great years! 🥹 

A few photos from our May meeting

We had excellent attendance at our May meeting, which was held on Thursday May 15th at the Vancouver Public Library's Renfrew branch. At least 32 people (including brand new members Janet, Jennifer and Frederic) were present for a casual gathering where our members chatted about, traded, bought and sold all things pen-related. It was a busy night, but I remembered to snap a few photos during the get-together, so here they are...

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

I forgot to take a photo of it at the April meeting (which featured pocket fountain pens), so I'm glad that Allan also brought his brass Hongdian 'M2' pocket fountain pen to our May meeting. It's a very nice (and affordable) pocket fountain pen with some heft to it; there's also an aluminum version of the 'M2', if you prefer a lighter pen...

Andrew brought a newly-acquired vintage fountain pen to the meeting -- his Parker 'Duofold' Jr. in shiny red 'Permanite' (Parker's name for their patented plastic). The 'Junior' model first came out in 1922, a year after the introduction of its full-sized counterpart. Doesn't it look great for a 100-year-old pen? 😁

Vladan brought a beautiful new modern fountain pen to the meeting -- a Graf von Faber-Castell that he recently bought from Charals. Sadly, Charals announced that after 39 years in business, they will be permanently closing their lovely store this summer 😢 (link to their Instagram announcement from April here)...

On a happier note, during our meeting I managed to acquire a pen I'd been seeking for a very long time. It's one of the two colours I was missing from my Signum 'Orione' fountain pen collection --the dark green with yellow flecks model (on the far right above)--and I bought from Hyung-Gu, a local pen aficionado (thank you, Hyung-Gu!)

Phil also brought some newly-acquired pens to the meeting ---a black and teal Pelikan 'M75 'Go!' model (top pen) and a vintage Pelikan '120'. The '120' was a piston-filling fountain pen made from 1955-1965, while the M75 was only made from 1992-1996 and came in two forms--piston-filler or cartridge/converter filler.

Larry B, a local penmaker, came to our meeting with lots of lovely handmade kitless resin fountain pens to show and sell...

Among the ones Larry was selling was this gorgeous teal and brown swirly fountain pen (with matching pen stand!)

We also saw some new accessories at our meeting, such as Asifa's cool new Peanuts-themed laptop holder (converted to a pen and notebook case)...

It's not a new acquisition, but it was newly discovered by Stuart --a handsome burgundy vintage Sheaffer 'Tuckaway' Touchdown-filler that he very recently found in an old desk drawer at home!

This is Rumi's cute pen roll by TheCoffeeMonsterzCo (a local artist) with four colourful fountain pens on top of it --(left to right): a Jinhao '10' in yellow/green gradient, a Gravitas 'Entry' in the wonderful "Skittle" finish and two PenBBS fountain pens. The one on the far right is a model '266' that Rumi purchased from fellow VPC member Jerred during the meeting.

Several members of our club who are avid ink swatchers attended our May meeting---that's Catherine's ink journal closest to the camera...

...and this is a page from Michelle's ink journal (the Vinta ink is one that I bought at Buchan's Kerrisdale Stationery just before the meeting and showed to the swatching gang).

My apologies for not taking more photos during the meeting--I wanted to take a posed group shot, but I didn't want to interrupt all the fun everyone was having 😀. Thank you to all who came to the meeting!

(~Blog post by Maja~)

Local Black Friday/seasonal sales!

With the ongoing Canada Post strike, this is as good a time as any to support your local pen shops by checking out some big sales 😊, such as... 

When you use the discount code above in their online shop (https://www.buchanst.com/), you can select the free "pickup" option or have it shipped to you (via alternative shipping carriers during the postal strike). 

Buchan's is located at 2141 West 41st Avenue in Vancouver, and their business hours are: Mon-Sat : 10AM - 6:30PM; Sun: 11AM - 5PM.

                                                              

If you can't make it to Nikaido's in-store sale, you can email owners Joe or Sara at nikaidotea@hotmail.com with a list of items you'd like to order (they'll send you an invoice, payable via e-transfer), which you can then pick up at a later date! (note: Nikaido Tea is excluded from the sale and TWSBI pens are 15% off; sale applies to in-stock items only).

Nikaido is located at 3580 Moncton Street in historic Steveston village (Richmond, BC) and their website is https://nikaidotea.com/ The store is open Monday - Sunday from 11:00am-6:00pm.
                                                             

They don't have a Black Friday sale this year, but CHARALS is having a month-long sale (November 1-30) with selected items up to 30% off! Charals is located at 171 Robson Street (near BC Place) in downtown Vancouver, and their official website/web store is at: https://charals.com/ Charal's hours are: Mon-Fri: 10am – 5:30 pm; Sat 10am-5pm; Sun & All Public Holidays - Closed.

As an aside, I've been updating this list of local pen stores on our club's website here: https://www.vancouverpenclub.com/2020/08/support-your-local-pen-shop.html (if you spot any errors/glaring omissions, please let me know and I'll update the list).

Happy shopping, everyone!
~Maja

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 478

(This fountain pen model has been reviewed on our website already, so this isn't another review...but as its colour is associated with Easter, I thought I'd post it today :)

I bought this beautiful Kaweco Collection AL Sport in "Vibrant Violet" from Shelina at Charals via their online store. The "Vibrant Violet" was the second addition to the Kaweco Collection (limited production runs -- only available to order for 12 months from release date)---note the "Kaweco Collection" engraving on the barrel. It was part of the 2021 Spring Collection, so I was fortunate to have found one in late 2022.

I hadn't visited Charals in person since the pandemic started, so I was very sorry to hear about Al's passing last year 😢. Their lovely store is still going strong, though, and is open six days a week -- Monday to Friday from 10am – 5:30 pm, and Saturdays from 10am – 5pm (closed Sundays & all public holidays).

Many thanks to Shelina for this gorgeous fountain pen!

(~Blog post & photos by Maja~)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 423

He couldn't make it our in-person meeting last night, but Lawrence was kind enough to submit this review of his new fountain pen for our website. Meet his handsome Visconti 'Homo Sapiens' Bronze age fountain pen!

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

Lawrence: "I had mentioned before that most of my pens are "ungendered". There are a few exceptions to this, of course - my Waterman Elegance is one example. While the Elegance has a decidedly "feminine" feel to it, the Homo Sapiens is on the other end of the spectrum -- butch pen. Of course, a pen can never, ever be completely butch because once uncapped, every pen needs to have a nib (nibs are very streamlined and anything but butch). Anyway...the Homo Sapiens did not attract me that much when I first saw it online. I thought it was a bit too "sporty-looking" at that time. But when I saw it in person (at Charals), the real pen looked pretty refined. Interestingly enough, most of the higher-end pens that I own did not initially attract me until I saw them in person.

The pen clip is the "standard" spring-loaded style of the Visconti pens: "

"There is the pen's name engraved, as well, on the section: "

"Speaking of the section, this pen has an interesting twist cap mechanism that prevents accidental uncapping: "

"So to twist it off and on, we need to press the cap down. Basically, looking at the grooves on the section, this extra step make sense.


It has the Visconti logo on the cap, and it's one of the "My Pen System" marketing bruhaha...that I don't care much about. I think the cap looks fine as is, and I don't see how replacing it with some gem stone or whatever will add anything."

"I got a 1.3 nib. It's 23K palladium:"

"I guess they call it the Dreamtouch nib. To be honest, it was anything but "dreamy" when I first got it. Well, "in my dreams" is more like it....because the pen had this skipping / baby bottom thing happening. However, like my stub nib pens, certain kinds of inks work well with them. The Pilot inks work with it very well. So now it writes like a different pen.

It has this vacuum filling mechanism that I'm ambivalent about. It takes a lot longer to fill up this pen, but the real drag is when I have to clean the pen out. This pump vacuum thing is very, very tedious. Also, I have to wonder how durable this is in the long run...

The material is a mix of resin and volcanic rock (Mt. Etna??). I do like the material. It is very light. Lighter than what I would have expected when looking at the pen. It is supposedly hygroscopic...but I'm not sure if this will make it stain easier when I'm filling it up. I know it is black, but stains will still show up as shiny film. I make sure to wipe it clean religiously every time I fill up.

It writes nicely (with the Pilot ink lines) and it has a nice balanced weight. I think it is a very nice pen to write with. However, because it is a stub nib, this is not a regular pen that I write with, but it's reliable when in use (again, after the ink change). And, of course, because it is a "black" pen...then it will be put into my "reddish" ink pen group." (Ed. Note: What Lawrence is referring to is his self-proclaimed "OCD thing with black/red combos -- black pen / red ink" :)

Many thanks to Lawrence for submitting yet another great review of a recent acquisition! :)

(I'll be posting photos from yesterday's in-person meeting this weekend, so watch this space!)

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 394

In honour of Canada Day tomorrow, I thought I'd post some photos of my fountain pens with some vintage Canadian postcards. I bought the pens from Charals via their webstore last summer:

(please click on images to enlarge)

Above: Lamy 'Safari ' white fountain pen "I Love Vancouver" special edition sold by Charals

Above: 'Lamy' Safari in yellow, a colour that's part of their regular (non-Limited Edition / Special Edition) production line. Before 2010, the yellow 'Safari' pens came with black clips and black nibs.

Above: Lamy 'Vista' fountain pen, which is essentially a clear demonstrator Lamy 'Safari'
 

Have a great Canada Day long weekend, everyone!
~Maja

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 262

And now, a lovely fountain pen belonging to VPCer Lawrence that came out in 2014 as part of Montblanc's "Writers" series and honours a famous English author - the Montblanc 'Daniel Defoe' Limited Edition fountain pen! Only 11,000 fountain pens were made -10,000 for individual sale, and 1,000 pieces that were part of a set consisting of fountain pen, ballpoint pen and mechanical pencil.

Without further ado, here are Lawrence's photos and thoughts about the pen...

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

Lawrence: "I have to admit that when Montblanc announced it with pictures, I was not at all very impressed with it. It actually looks like an obscene adult toy (with some Arabian twist to it....too). And at that time I really was not interested in getting Montblancs...I thought they are overpriced (I still do, but that perspective has been softened up since). I saw this pen at Charals WITHOUT the cap on, and that is what makes it pop for me. The pen is also a lot smaller than they show in pictures. Basically to sum it up, it is one of those pens that look way better in person than in pictures. They look delicate and pretty subdued (it is a more or less a dark/black pen which I was into at that time. e.g. my Visconti Michelangelo)."

"And although it looked awesome in person, I was not really intent on getting one of these MB pens (pretentious crap I used to call them and sometimes I still think that way, but now I do it with love LOL)."

"The details on the pen are exquisite and filigree (?) patterns are etched and appear BOTH on the cap and the barrel (the piston end) which makes it attractive when I hold it up while writing. Some pens are only beautiful with their cap on and look rather plain uncapped. And because I don't post my pens, this is perfect. And Charals did something they normally don't do with pens like this....they let me try it out...dipping of course. And I have to say, writing with this pen is heaven on earth for me (I have since owned a few other pens-both MB and other brands- and still none compares). This pen literally glides on paper, writes without effort and I don't even need to press sometimes; I get away with almost microscopically 'hovering' over the paper and I can write. The pen also feels comfortable, it has a wide enough girth and it's not too heavy (the infamous marketing term "precious resin" is the material used of course). The pen is a piston filler, it is very smooth, almost no friction. This is a pen that writes with one of my reddish inks."

"There is Daniel Defoe's signature on the cap. To be honest, I don't like it marring the finish; it disrupts the color. If this is really Daniel's personal etched signature, then fine, but this is a machine etched copy which does not mean anything but ruined the finish for me. I love the pen so much I do have more than one, I got it thinking that these are the only pens I will ever own forever....(of course that is not the case later on). But these Defoes are basically a regular part of my "grail pen posse". Because I have more than one, they go through their own "micro-rotation" within this grail group."

"The nibs come in the usual EF, F, M, B. My first one is a M nib. I had one in F, and another in EF (which was originally a botched attempt by MB but I ended up keeping it anyway...for the sake of guilt I will pretend that EF/F are one pen, so there...) The nib is very ornate and has a parrot on it."

"Unfortunately, MB screwed up big time with the plating so for the M nib the plating (Ruthenium?) chipped off and created a not-so-beautiful looking mess:"

"It breaks my heart but it does not diminish my love for the pen (s), considering I have more than one.. This sort of tarnished my view of MB. If they charge so much for a pen I expect it to not have this quality problem within a few months of use (yes, a few months). What is even more tragic is that I had MB exchange (replace) the first chipped M nib with a new one and this one ended up chipping as well (this is the one in the picture). So not only did I end up with a "different" pen (new nib = new pen) but I ended up with the same problem. The new nib still writes well and is just as good, but it is different. I have to say I regret exchanging it. I should have kept the first one, chipped and all.

Oh well, I'm still in love with these pens and I still use them regularly.

I got adventurous and bought a fake version of the pens....it is advertised as "fancy fountain pen". Although it has an overall resemblance, the workmanship is not so refined. It makes me feel better this way (sometimes I have encountered fake pens that not only look like the real stuff, but write just as well.....)."

Lawrence - as always, thank you for your interesting (and honest :) reviews about your new pen-related acquisitions! And thanks again to everyone in our club who has sent in photos and write-ups for our virtual "show & tell". Please keep 'em coming! 

Happy 35th anniversary, Charals!

(photo courtesy of Charals' official Instagram)

This month, Charals is celebrating their 35th anniversary and to mark the occasion, they're having an anniversary sale!

The store carries a wide variety of writing instruments, inks, stationery and gift items, and selected items are on sale for the entire month of August, both in-store and at their online store (Charals.com). They offer free shipping within Canada on online orders over $99 CAD pre-tax (*free shipping not available in territories*) so if you can't visit the store in person, you can always shop from the comfort of your home.

Their beautiful store is located at 171 Robson Street in downtown Vancouver, and is open six days a week for your shopping convenience. Store hours are: Mon-Fri: 10am – 5:30 pm; Saturday 10am – 5pm; Closed on Sundays & all public holidays.

Congratulations to Charals' owners Al and Shelina on reaching this milestone, and best wishes for many more successful years!

Newest Acquisitions (Virtual "Show & Tell") ~ part 137

In early December, I placed an online order for a new fountain pen with the good folks at Charals, an elegant gift shop/pen store located in downtown Vancouver. In less than 24 hours, my order arrived at my home via courier. Wow.

Meet my new TWSBI 'Vac700R' "Iris" fountain pen...

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

(Above: TWSBI 'Vac 700R" "Iris" model with Broad steel nib; notebook from Amazon.ca)

Capturing the rainbow-coloured iridescent metal trim and nib was a real challenge, so I apologize in advance for the quality of my photos. Funny thing-I didn't notice it at first, but the sunlight's shadows in the photos look like prison bars, which references back to 'Orange is the New Black", a comedy-drama set in a fictional women's prison. Cue "Twilight Zone" music...(lol)

I bought a TWSBI 'Vac700' fountain pen when it first came out in 2012 and was very happy with it, so I passed on buying the re-designed 'Vac700R' model (available only as a plain demonstrator with a monocolour nib and trim) when it came out in 2017.... but when I saw the brand-new (late 2020) Vac700R "Iris" model with its iridescent trim and nib, I couldn't resist buying it...

Both the TWSBI 'Vac700' and 'Vac700R' models are vacuum-filling fountain pens, which means that they only fill from an ink bottle, so if you're looking for a pen that uses ink cartridges, this isn't the pen for you (although you might be persuaded to buy it once you find out how much ink it holds--a whopping 2.4mL !)

The 'Vac700R' was so named because it was a re-design of the 'Vac700'. The re-design was done in order to provide "even more consistent ink flow when (the) valve is opened", according to TWSBI's official website.  "What valve??" you may be thinking. Well, both models have a ink shut-off valve which closes off the ink chamber and prevents the pens from leaking due to pressure changes (for example, in an airplane). To close the valve, you turn the barrel/turning knob clockwise until it's fully tightened. To open the valve and allow for a continuous flow of ink, you simply twist the knob counter-clockwise until it's loosened (do not pull back the plunger, though). It sounds complicated, but it really isn't.

There are some other differences, too. Anderson Pens nicely summarizes all the design changes:  

"The Vac700R fountain pen has been updated by modifying the 2 valves in the older version into one valve in the new model. The grip and feed section of the pen has also been enlarged and tapered, which combined with the valve modification, increased the ink flow of the pen by a small percentage. Because of these changes to the pens and nib units, the TWSBI stainless steel Vac700R replacement nib will fit only the new Vac700R fountain pen, and will NOT fit the older Vac 700 pens. If you own an older Vac 700 fountain pen, then the older style Vac 700 replacement nibs will fit your pen." (underlined part = my emphasis)

I missed the opportunity to acquire a Nemosine "re-entry" nib when they were still being made, so when I saw that the 'Vac 700R' "Iris" came with a lovely iridescent nib (see above), I jumped at the opportunity to purchase the pen (they seemed to be selling out quickly) and decided to "buy local". 

The entire nib isn't iridescent, just the upper part (a/k/a the "mask"); the rest of the nib is the usual silvery steel colour. It's such a cool-looking nib, but as far as I know, you can't buy these "rainbow" nibs separately, just the regular Vac700R monocolour steel nibs. The good news is that if you do want to swap in a replacement Vac700R nib, it's very simple--just unscrew the old nib unit (at the barrel threads) and replace it with another Vac700R nib unit. The plain (non-rainbow) Vac 700R nib units are sold separately and come in EF, F, M, B, and Stub 1.1mm nib widths

The iridescent coating is also used on all the metal trim (clip, cap ring, barrel ring) and even the small metal nib collar inside the section---a nice touch. Because of its iridescence, the metal looks different from different angles. I snapped some quick photos (above & below) showing this. Tip: to see super-zoomed-in versions of the images, left-click on a photo to enlarge it, then right-click & select "view image", then left-click again.

I realize that this bright, multi-coloured iridescent trim and nib might not appeal to everyone, but I like it. Interesting fact: no two Vac700R "Iris" pens are exactly alike in terms of the their trim colours and/or nib colours. I love that :)

The pen comes in distinctive white plastic minimalist-but-sturdy packaging (seen above), which TWSBI uses for their piston- and vacuum-filling fountain pens. These models come with a small metal wrench, two O-rings and a vial of silicone grease (all tucked into the underside of the box) that can be used to take apart the pens in order to thoroughly clean and lubricate them (instructions on how to do this are also included, of course).

I'm very pleased with my new Vac 700R "Iris". In addition to being an eye-catching fountain pen, it holds a ton of ink, and the large Broad nib on mine writes very well. It's a fairly long pen (13.4cm/5.28 inches from barrel end to nib tip; more specs here), so it can be used comfortably unposted. I'm so happy that TWSBI kept the Vac700R's nib size in proportion to the rest of the pen; full-sized fountain pens with small nibs are a bit of a pet peeve of mine.

I paid $120 CAD + tax, including free shipping to my home (via Purolator) for my pen. As of this writing, Charals is still open for in-store shopping from 10am to 5:30 pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 5:00pm on Saturdays. Happily, their webstore is open for shopping 24/7 if you can't make it to their lovely shop. Many thanks to Al and Shelina of Charals for their always-excellent customer service!

~Review by Maja