Today marks the start of National Stationery Week and we’ll be posting all week on this subject. To kick off the week my sister Natalie is guest posting today with the start of a mini series all about the London Stationery Tour.
I was shown a list of shops in London which could be visited as a ‘stationery tour’. Being a huge stationery fan thought this would be great opportunity to visit some new shops and see what I could find. After completing the tour I’ve decided to amend the list of shops a little bit. Some of the shops on the tour are closed now, and some of them weren’t worth visiting. For example, on the original list there were two Paperchase stores; if you visit the shop on Tottenham Court Road then you really don’t need to visit another. I’ve also added a couple of stores which I think that it would be a shame to miss.
Paperchase
This store is Paperchases flagship store, I’d never been to this store before I moved to London and now it’s my main destination for stationery supplies. There’s 3 floors selling a huge supply of stationery and arts and crafts supplies, and there’s even a cafe where you can get a free drink once a week if you hold a Paperchase card. If you only have chance to go to one stationery store in London this would be my recommendation. There is so much on sale here, you might not find anything truly spectacular but you’ll be able to buy all of your essentials.
The ground floor sells all of Paperchase’s main collections. Since this is the flagship store the full range of each collection is on sale whereas in smaller stores you might only get a small selection from a few of these. I really like the range of collections which Paperchase has, some are clearly aimed at children but there are plenty that are a bit more sophisticated and aimed towards older shoppers. Each collection tends to sell a few ‘staples’, such as sticky notes, stickers, notepads and paper tapes but there is also a good variety of other products, each collection tends to have its own range of novelty items. Also on the ground floor are diaries and notepads, both Paperchase products and brands such as Moleskine. Paperchase offers a service where you can get your notebooks personalised which costs £5.00 per product, or £3.00 for card holders. There is a very good selection of writing paper, letter sets and note cards, including thank you notes and things like wedding invitations. There is also a huge greetings card section, postcards and wrapping papers. Along with Paperchase’s own branded stickers they have recently added a small collection of Korean sticker brands which I really love, they’re slightly more expensive but nothing that would break the bank.
The first floor has all the party supply ranges along with some slightly more expensive stationery ranges. I’ve not bought a lot from this floor, I’m not one to throw a party but it does look like they have some good themes, they are suitable for both children’s parties and more grown up parties along with hen parties. The stationery on this floor looks pretty classy although some of it is very expensive. There’s also a good selection of stationery aimed at men here which I think can be difficult to find. The cafe is on this floor too, I go and collect my free drink every time I’m in the area since I have a Paperchase card. They’re free to have and it’s worth it for the free drink! You also get £5.00 free to spend in store for every £50.00 you spend.
The second floor sells all of the arts and craft supplies, and it’s also where the craft classes run. There is a selection of really lovely handmade papers, including those from Cavalini papers which are so nice. There are plenty of different kinds of paints, brushes, drawing and painting papers, etc. You can also pick up supplies for tons of crafts here, such as lino printing, decoupage and paper crafts. You can buy a small selection of MT washi tapes, although I think that they’re quite expensive here.
Just a small note on Project Craft – craft courses offered by Paperchase and held here. There’s a really good range of craft classes and they’re fairly inexpensive. You can send the kids to mask making classes, learn how to make paper flower garlands and learn paper crafts such as scrap-booking. I have only done the lino printing course but it was so much fun! Of course you can buy the supplies from the classes here but i think they’re a little over priced, it’s much more worth waiting until you get home and then buying them from Amazon.
Tiger
Just a few minutes walk from Paperchase is a good sized Tiger store. Tiger sell a variety of cheap Scandinavian products and not just stationery, so you can visit for affordable home wares, toys and food too. They’re good for cheap note books, tapes, stickers and art supplies. They tend to sell seasonal items too, so if you want some Halloween stationery you’ll find plenty of tapes and stickers for themed for the holiday. Along with art supplies like paper, pens and paints, they also sell affordable canvas and easels, and even wooden figure drawing models.
Muji
There are plenty of Muji stores across London and it’s easy to nip into this one between shops. The stationery section is on the first floor and sells pretty much what other Muji stores sell. It’s good quality and fairly affordable. I like Muji’s plain products, they’re so practical and easy to use. I feel like I’ve gotten to a point where I cannot survive without Muji’s black 0.5 nib pens, if I ever move out of London I’m going to have to seriously stock up because I could not face running out of them. They’re £5.00 for a pack of 6 black pens and they write really neatly for me. My boyfriend is a big fan of the ‘To-do’ lists too which he uses for work. Also on the first floor are various storage items, so not only can you buy stationery, you can also buy something in which to store it away nicely on your desk.
Foyles
Charing Cross Road
The stationery section in Foyles isn’t huge, but it’s worth visiting. Also, it’s an amazing bookshop so it’s worth visiting in its own right. The stationery section is on the ground floor opposite the cash registers. Foyles have just released their own range of notebooks which are a bit pricey at £10.00 each, but the book themed covers are great. There’s a good range of MT washi tapes sold here but as with everywhere that sells them in London, they aren’t cheap. There are two main reasons for visiting Foyles stationery department, the first is Harry Potter stationery. Short of visiting Platform 9 ¾ (which you should do!) they sell a really good selection. There’s also a great selection of the books including colouring books and Funkos.
If you are a fan of Harry Potter and would like an opportunity to buy more related stationery then The House of Minalima is just around the back of Foyles and they currently have an amazing display of Harry Potter products and there is a shop on the ground floor. They are the company that designed all of the graphics for the Harry Potter films and fantastic beasts, you can buy limited edition posters there, a huge selection of postcards, badges, notebook and some very cool writing paper. This shop sells a lot of products you can’t buy online and isn’t sold as official merchandise, so if you’re a Harry Potter fan it really is a must visit.
My main reason for loving Foyles is that they stock Traveler’s Notebook products. It’s the largest range of these that I’ve seen in London, they sell the leather notebook covers, inserts and limited editions tins. I don’t think they’re relatively expensive either especially as they’re imports.
Are any of these your favourites in London? Foyles is a personal favourite of mine and not enough people know it exists!
Come back for Part 2 in a couple of weeks!
I love the flagship Paperchase store, it makes me so happy. You should check out Typo, their only store is in Westfield but it’s amazing x
How lovely that your sister has guest posted for you, my brother would never guest post for me. I am not really into stationery but the paperchase store loos great, we only have a tiny one in Newcastle x
She’ll be back more with some other stationery posts too!
I am a huge fan of stationery, too! Love Tiger, which we have in Sweden – such good value. Paperchase looks right up my street – full of fabulous things!
I do love Tiger!
I never knew that it was national stationary week! I love Paperchase and Tiger is so cheap too x
Ooh Harry Potter stationary, do love Foyles as well, lovely place to sit and chill
I’ve only ever been to Paperchase out of all these 🙁 time to expand my horizons I think!
Oh most definitely!
That looks like a great trail. We love stationery too x
I used to love Muji when they had one in Manchester. I’m desperate to get to a tiger store x
Tiger is quite cheap too!
I love Paperchase and Tiger is brilliants for kids. We have a couple of Paperchase stores in Paris, and Tiger has just opened up here to. So I am happy!
Paperchase is a favourite!