Sledding

Snow in Arizona is often a hit or miss proposition, and when its a hit you have the downside of not knowing how long its going to stick around. Last week Arizona had a major winter storm dumping about 2" of rain in the Phoenix metro area while leaving up to three feet of snow in the higher elevations of the state.

Yesterday, Wednesday, February 18th we closed the store to go sledding. Located about 10 miles northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona is the Wing Mountain Recreation Area, managed by the state. The skies were clear and blue and the sun was shining brightly over the acres and acres of glistening snow- nice and powdery on the approach to the sledding zones, but perfectly packed for fast rides down the hills. We found our best rides were had on an inflatable tube rather than on our plastic sleds. Wow, what an amazing time we had! I'll admit that a 300 mile roundtrip commute is a bit much to go sledding for 1 1/2 hours, but you can't measure the pleasure in miles. I hope we have more snow soon...

Happy Valentine's Day

Do you remember when you were in elementary school and celebrated Valentine's Day? Do you remember the excitement- addressing cards for the entire class and giving away candy hearts to everyone? Of course, the most exciting part was receiving cards and candy from everyone else and trying to read meaning into their little notes. Or even better, reading meaning into the little saying on the candy hearts! And then even better yet, eating the candy hearts!!

OK, so we don't have pens with cute inscriptions, nor are we going to send out Valentine's cards to everyone, but we do wish you and yours a Happy Valentine's Day. Since pens are us I will mention that we have red pens in stock from Aurora, Caran d'Ache, Cross, Lamy, Monteverde, Pelikan, and Retro 51.

Recent & Upcoming Developments

January is the big month for auto auctions in Scottsdale in the forms of Barrett Jackson, Russo & Steele, and Kruse. With this in mind, we have brought in a special selection of fine pens from the Aquila Group and Tibaldi in Italy, makers of Bentley, Ducati, Jaguar, Mercedes, and Smart brands. All feature metal construction with lacquer finishes providing a solid-in-the-hand feel. We also have the Omas for Maserati limited edition rollerball for you to eyeball.

The Pelikan display has new additions including the Special Edition Mt. Everest, the Zircon Silver Epoch, and both the Ductus Gold and Ductus Silver, all in fountain pens. We've also added the famous Pelikano and Pelikano Junior lines. In Lamy, you'll discover an expanded selection from the Accent series, and in Visconti there are some Opera Specials that you'll have to check out- very limited availabilty and super low prices.

Coming very soon, the first-class Conway Stewart limited edition Dandy Heritage and Duro Heritage fountain pens with silver fittings.

Holiday Greetings to All!

Karen and I would like to thank you all for being so supportive of Scottsdale Pen during our first year. It is ironic that we opened our store December 1st, 2oo7, what is now being called the beginning of the recession. However, even against that challenging backdrop, we're pleased to say that our year was very successful and the holiday shopping season was busy. We couldn't have done it without you!

With your continued support we anticipate an exciting 2009. In the meantime, we wish you and yours a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Factory Authorized Sale in Progress

For the holiday season the kind folks at Sanford have authorized a 20% off sale on all Parker and Waterman pens. This is a wonderful opportunity to stock up on some great pens for you and yours at reduced prices.

The holiday season is off to a great start. Hot stocking stuffers include pens from Lamy and Retro 51, while people looking for "impact" gifts have been gravitating towards the Visconti Black Divina, the Waterman Exception, and the Cross Apogee in rose gold.

We cannot publish prices on our "in-store" specials, but you'll find some incredible bargains if you come into the store. The sun is shining, the weather is great, so come on in and have some fun!

Thanksgiving Update

With all you hear about "Black Friday" I figured I'd update you on happenings in our little slice of retail heaven. In a word, "busy". Overall, we had a very busy week with Saturday being the big day. Interestingly enough, we did almost equal sales volume on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. We had a strong November to mark the one-year anniversary of Scottsdale Pen.

But we were busy for other reasons last week, too. Our son came in from NAU for the holiday weekend, while our daughter threw a large party on Saturday night to celebrate her 17th birthday. And, we're breaking in a new puppy, too. Yep, we had our hands full last week.

If you're in the area please stop in. We're offering special in-store savings on many items. Prices are too low to publish!

Trunk Show Report

Our 1st Annual Fall Trunk Show and Sale, held November 14-15, is one for the history books now and we couldn't be happier with the results. Our thanks to Tess from Acme, Kathryn from Cross, Ryan from Michel Perchin/Faber-Castell, and BC from too many brands to list, for your generous gift of time and expertise in helping to make our event a success. Thanks go out also to people behind the scenes who sent in stock to boost our store including Danean from Aurora/Omas, Jeanette from Parker/Waterman, Dana from Krone, Cathy with Caran d'Ache, Lamy, and Yard-O-Led, and Rick from William Henry.


Of course the biggest thank you goes out to you, our wonderful customers, who took time out from your busy lives to attend our little event. Scottsdale Pen would only be a theory without you. Have an amazing Thanksgiving and keep on writing!