Goods Found on an Editor's Journey for Stationery in the West Village: Your New Favorite Notebook, Pen, or Card Set Awaits

Desk Note 14 - in my attempt to romanticize back-to-school shopping

If you’re anything like me, you tend to bring home new notebooks or pick up a blank card set with stripes inside of the envelopes (just because). I manage to control the temptations successfully on some occasions. Still, as I started another semester of graduate school, I couldn’t resist the urge to romanticize my back-to-school shopping for stationery.

The image of Audrey Hepburn’s character, a shy clerk at a Village bookstore in Funny Face (1957) lives rent-free in my head, a constant mood. It is saved to several of my Pinterest boards for continual inspiration. When I woke up on a rainy Saturday morning, I put on a simple black tee and jeans a la Audrey and went downtown. I’m happy to report back with a tote full of new notebooks & pens (even if I wasn’t swished away to Paris by a fashion photographer for having a funny face).

Have I intrigued you yet?

Read on for a few of my newfound favorite stationery shops & bookstores.

• Goods for the Study - As the name implies this shop down on 8th Street is a fine curation of notebooks, journals, prints, note cards, diaries, and pens. I picked up three notebooks, including one by Notem Studio, the covetable Danish design agency. Merci to my friend, Olivia, for the introduction to this McNally Jackson-owned store. We grabbed coffee and made our way downtown to secure our goods.

• Mercer Street Books & Records - Unfortunately, the bookstore where Audrey’s character works in Funny Face was fictionally created in a Hollywood studio. However, you can channel the same energy in this Washington Square Park-adjacent bookstore on Mercer Street.

• Greenwich Letterpress - Nearby is a whimsical greeting card store on Christopher Street.

• Dear Annabelle - I swoon over every new design Marcie Pantzer creates for her luxury paper goods company. The New York-based company retails directly to consumers online, and I’m not-so-patiently waiting for the day they open a storefront.

• MUJI - Putting pencil to paper can be plain, simple, and inexpensive. The Japanese store has several locations around the city, including one not too far from the Village in SoHo. I picked up a pack of their notebooks and two new pens for the semester.

  

  

  

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  MORNING, NOON, NIGHT

  Inspired by the title of one of my favorite coffee table books, each desk note ends with something interesting for you to see, do, read, and/or wear as told through the lens of a day’s journey from sunrise to sunset.

  MORNING - turn on a Norah Jones playlist and light a clean-scented candle on your next rainy morning.

  NOON - head to Goods for the Study to pick out a new journal.

  NIGHT - cozy up at home and watch Funny Face (1957) starring Audrey Hepburn.

  ECF

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  ONE LAST NOTE

  I am so excited to keep writing these desk notes. It started as a summer challenge to myself to write more. It’s turned into a fun passion project. And it means the world to me every time a new person joins this little corner on the internet. If you’re enjoying my notes From the Desk of ECF, please share them with a friend using the link below. I’m thrilled you’re here! Thank you for the support!