A Pencil Shop on Orchard Street
While walking through the Lower East Side in Manhattan on a recent Saturday afternoon, I happened upon CW Pencil Enterprise. The shop window read “Purveyors of Superior Graphite.” As a writer with very specific preferences in writing implements, I couldn’t resist.
CW Pencil Enterprise stocks quality pencils from around the world, including several lines manufactured in the United States. Jersey City’s own General Pencil Company is represented.
Need a pencil designed for architectural drafting? One for copy editing? Whatever your needs, CW Pencil Enterprise will likely fill them. Additionally, the store carries erasers, notebooks, pencil sharpers, and other related miscellany.
Quirky, interesting shops such as the CW Pencil Enterprise belong to the creative fabric of New York and other cities. Such small businesses represent something not easily encountered in much of America–an eclectic urban culture with space for niche tastes and pursuits.
In our present age, commercial gentrification and bland corporatization threaten the future of this creative culture integral to the identity, health, and even raison d’être of New York and other metropolises.
When you’re looking for a new favorite writing instrument, visit CW Pencil Enterprise. By supporting them and other independent businesses, you’ll help keep New York–or you own city–weird.
CW Pencil Enterprise, 15 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002