Inevitable I guess. When I started collecting there were at least three places in Philadelphia and now there are none, and NYC is down to one. We still have pen shows!
After 93 years, Daly’s Pen Shop will close its doors for good
Daly’s Pen Shop owner Brad Bodart will continue to sell his inventory online
WAUWATOSA – Daly’s Pen Shop is something of a museum.
It has custom-made cabinets dating to the 1920s; walls lined with old advertisements and photos; displays of vintage inks; and shelves stocked with pens that, with their gold nibs and gleaming barrels, could double as fashion accessories.
It has Sinatra, Mel Tormé and Ray Charles on the stereo.
What it doesn’t have is customers. Last Wednesday, there were three — all day.
“I’m just getting out of this before I’m forced out,” owner Brad Bodart said, explaining why, after 93 years, Daly’s will close its doors for good. “It’s tough to make a living now selling pens over the counter.”…
…“Walk-in business in general has declined every single month for the last three, four years,” Bodart, 51, said. “And now it’s just to the point where I can’t stay here.”
Daly’s situation is hardly unique. The number of pen shops in the U.S. has declined significantly in the last 20 years, in part as purchases have moved online, said Susan Bowen, associate publisher of Pen World, a magazine for enthusiasts.
There are exceptions. Anderson Pens opened not quite four years ago in Appleton and is “a very strong retailer,” Bowen said…
fountain pen users 