World Lux
1208 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, Washington
Located in the Fairmont Olympic Hotel
Hours: Monday to Friday 10 to 6; Saturdays 10 to 5:30
I have been doing business with Worldlux for some time. Although Seattle is close to Vancouver, it seems years can go by before I get the change to return to Seattle and visit the World Lux store.
In 2009 I returned and it was a pleasure to meet owner Todd Caver. Like old friends through email or web-site transactions (www.worldlux.com), it was great to finally meet him.
Todd has owned the company since 1986 and his experience and enthusiasm for pens come across in our conversation.
In 2005 the store relocated to be adjacent to the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Seattle. Originally half the current size, the store expanded as soon as the opportunity arose.
The store today is a large spacious store a pleasure to spend some time in while looking at the broad selection of pens as well as watches.
Although half of the store displays watches, pens represent a substantial part of their business.
There is a good selection of fountain pens, representing the major lines. Todd indicated the lines allow for personal choice and that sales are fairly consistent across the various lines.
After looking at the various lines, I was very impressed with the large Opera Demonstrator by Visconti. Got to get one of those! What a pen. It really is of substantial size, with soft browns in a translucent body that shows the internal ink filling mechanism. The pen has a unique double-capacity ink system which allows for a considerable amount of ink to be held in the pen.
When in Seattle, this is one of the “musts” for the pen person. Good selection of pens coupled with a good knowledge and professional sales approach.
Silberman Brown
1322 Fifth Avenue
Seattle, WA 99101
206.292.9404
www.silbermanbrown.com
Silberman Brown is a stationery store that also has a good pen counter. The store sells a good range of pens that includes: Waterman, Faber Castel, Parker and Retro. I met with Jennifer, daughter of one of the owners, Sue Silberman and Carol Brown, and enjoyed a short visit at the Seattle Store.
Silberman Brown has been in business for 33 years with stores in Bellevue and Seattle.
The store originally started as a stationery store and fairly shortly after opening they added pens to their offerings as it seemed such a natural inclusion for the writing experience. The store is one of those oh-so-interesting stores to walk about. In addition to pens, there is stationery, desk accessories as well antique ink wells. Sue and Connie, the owners, travel to England and hand pick the items to have sent back to the store. They had a couple of very nice looking crystal inkwells on the day that I visited the store.
So selling pens, paper, the store also stocks a good selection of writing inks that include Waterman, Parker, Private Reserve. DuPont and Private Reserve.
Both of their stores will be moving to new locations. The Bellevue Store will move into a new retail development anchored by retailer Marcus Neiman. The Seattle store will move a few blocks to be part of the Fairmont Hotel