Writing on the wall: Cambridge pen shop defies the odds

Specialty pens are displayed in Phidon Pens in Cambridge, Ont., on Friday, Sept. 20, 2013.

In a technologically strong era like the 2010s, in a technologically strong community like Waterloo Region, how can a bricks-and-mortar store that specializes in pens and paper possibly survive?

Put that question to Mano Duggal and you’ll get an answer that applies just as well for any retail endeavour.

“Customer service trumps everything,” she says.

“Our customers come in for a lot more than the product – a lot of our product is available online.”

Along with her husband, Duggal opened up Phidon Pens on Dickson Street in Cambridge in 2008.

It took them a few months to build up a customer base, but five years later, Duggal says she’s amazed with the success of the business.

“It was scary to open a store selling pens and paper in a time where people are using computers, but we had passion and we wanted to do something that we loved,” she says.

One of the biggest surprises is that 75 per cent of Phidon’s customers come from outside Cambridge – they’re willing to travel because they know they’ll find a unique selection of fountain pens, writing instruments, notebooks and inks.

If you’re not a pen enthusiast, you may think ink would be a simple purchase – not so, says Duggal.

“People spend hours selecting the right bottle of ink,” she says.

Jeff Little is a national sales manager at Phidon’s distributor.

He says his industry has found ways to embrace new technology and use it to their benefit, even as it’s taken a large bite over the amount of ink put to paper.

“in the pen industry, we use Twitter and Facebook to promote new products and get the word out on what’s coming out next month,” he says.

“Anything in the world today – whether it’s a poem, a book, a song, the first sketch of the iPad – it was probably done with a pen, maybe in a restaurant on a napkin. It is the root of where everything starts.”

Despite Little’s optimism – which she shares – Duggal wishes pen use and handwriting quality would return to the level they were at in a pre-computer age.

“I think it’s a mistake educators are making today, to take handwriting away from children,” she says.

“It’s really important for us to preserve that for our kids. We should all learn how to write.”