New Central arts/crafts place

[dmaze]

Over lunch I stopped by the new arts-and-crafts store in Central Square, across the street from Pearl. (It apparently seems to be named "Artist & Craftsman Supply", which is remarkably uncreative.) They seemed to have a smaller selection of stuff than Pearl, and generally more on the "arts" than "crafts" side. And their entire store is in the basement, which felt a little weird. But for what they seemed to have, they seemed to have a reasonable selection, and fairly good prices. Very vaguely tempted by a cheap drafting table + chair combo for $175, but I'd really have no where to put it.

Comments

[rjpb.livejournal.com]

I dropped in there yesterday for the first time. It was very nearly empty, whereas Pearl was buzzing with people looking for Halloween costume materials. The basement and steel shelving made the new place feel more like the old-fashioned equivalent of a hardware store to me, carrying just the basics in a no-nonsense setting, whereas Pearl is highly gift-oriented. I did not compare prices too closely, but for the subset of artist supplies they carry, I got the impression they had better deals than Pearl.

[eichin.livejournal.com]

I finally stopped in there a few weeks back - they had several kinds of pens and papers that Pearl didn't, which is surprising given just how much paper pearl has. I'd look there again...