Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Waiting for Columbus*

Tomorrow I leave for the Ohio Pen Show, which is billed as the 4th largest pen show in the nation. The show is held in the belly of the beast - at least as far as University of Michigan fans go -– Columbus, Ohio. Yet I remain undeterred.

In fact, I a’m actually pretty excited, as this will be the first time the Pear Tree Pen Company will be exhibiting at the show. I’'ve been making preparations for weeks now, yet believe it or not, much remains to be done. Taking the management concept of "Just in Time Delivery" to dizzying new heights, some of the new products I'’ve ordered still haven'’t arrived - which is causing me some degree of stress, as you might imagine. And, although I a’m resigned to the fact that some of the things I had hoped to accomplish will most likely not be done, I still think I'm in pretty good shape overall.

For starters, my staff and I will have new shirts embroidered with our fancy-schmancy new logo, which should make us pretty easy to spot - on the concourse and off. We also just received our new promotional ink blotters, imprinted with contact information as well as the "Partridge in a Pear Tree" logo. Come by and pick one up.

I've also made sure we ordered new inventory so there will be plenty of pens, paper and inks to sell. Making their debut at the Pear Tree Pen Company will be new pens and inks from Pelikan, including some of the unusual Pelikan Level 5 fountain pens, as well as Pelikan'’s new 364 Epoch "Wood Nut" fountain pens, which are made from hand-polished walnut wood. If all goes according to plan, we hope to have a large selection of Pelikan student pens available for the young attendees and, of course, the cliched "Young at Heart." As one of the newest Authorized Platinum Pen dealers in North America, The Pear Tee Pen Company will also be displaying for the first time its new assortment of Platinum fountain pens, which will be available in a variety of colors and nib sizes.

Lamy pens continue to be well-represented among our products, and we will have a large array of Al-Stars, Safaris and Vistas, as well as some of the pens a little higher up in Lamy's line, like the Brilliant Accent and the 2000. We'll also have the Lamy Studio, which has just added a cool new blue color to their line-up.

In response to many of your suggestions, The Pear Tree Pen Company has also partnered with Greg Minuskin, an extremely talented nib "guru" and one of the rising stars in the field, to bring you several pens with custom-ground stub and cursive italic nibs. Greg has performed his magic on a select group of Sailors, Bexleys and Lamys, and these pens will be available to try and to buy only at the Pear Tree Pen Company.

So, if you a’re in Columbus this weekend, please come by our table and visit. And if you're not in Columbus this weekend, please understand why I won't be responding to your emails and orders with my typical alacrity. Shipping will resume once I recover early next week.

Thanks, and I hope see you at the show.

James P.

* My apologies to Little Feat for stealing the title to one of the greatest live albums of all time.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi There!
I just stumbled upon your blog and web site. I hope you had a good show. Would you mind if I like you to my blog? I use mainly dip pens but some of your stuff got my attention. I'm sure a few other people might be interested too!