Editing The Pen Addict 332/transcript (section)

== Muji Comparison ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. So it's kind of funny to compare Kino Kanuya to where we went next, which was Muji. Because Muji, like their gel pen selection rivals Kino Kanuya and how many they have. But it is arranged differently with more space. Mm-hmm. So it was more pleasant to be in that environment, I think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It was completely different. Yes. Those two spaces. Like Muji's, you know, set up, designed to be that way. That's their thing. You know, it's.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Plus aromatherapy.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yes. That was a lot of aromatherapy.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They had like 70 different aroma balls. I don't know what they're called. What are they called? I have no idea. What are they? They've got a word. I don't know. I call them steamers. No. Yeah.

'''Ana Reinert:''' The, yeah. The, the, the water vapor. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Diffuser. Diffuser. Diffuser. That's the word I was looking for. Yeah. And they were.

'''Ana Reinert:''' It was a bit much. If you are, if you are not a fan, then maybe, maybe not the one near Bryant Park.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. They didn't have a sample going. They had all of them going.

'''Ana Reinert:''' They had them all going and all with different scents. So it was like aromatherapy overload.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' But once we got past that, you could see this, the, the stationery was beckoning to you. I was surprised. So the part of the store we were in, I was honestly expecting something bigger. Like square foot wise.

'''Ana Reinert:''' There was a downstairs.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' There was a downstairs.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Which is where all the clothing and stuff is. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So we didn't make it down there. I was actually surprised in the space that was upstairs, how much space the stationery took up. It was a very big part of their business. I didn't realize. I knew it was a part of their business. And I thought it was maybe like a small part, just like a side thing. It was like a front and center, huge display type of thing.

'''Myke Hurley:''' From being someone who has a large selection of Muji stores in their town. And just so I know people that go there. Muji stationery is one of the things that people go to Muji for. Right? Like if you have a Muji, it's like, oh, you, you'll go and buy the boxes and you'll buy all the office supplies and you'll buy all the gel pens. Like it, it didn't surprise me. And it doesn't, because every Muji store that I've been to is like that. Like the stationery takes up a huge part. And this is not just the gel pens, but say like filing solutions and just like staplers and everything they sell. And so it is very consistent with Muji's that I've been to in other parts of the world and in London as well. Like it is a huge part of them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. So looking at the pen selection they had now, they were always known for their gel pens. They're using Zebra and Pentel white label products as the primary.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Because it's the majority of their stationery clips are all over some of them.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Which those are two really good choices. They've always used great choices. I mean, they've used Uniball and Pilot in the past. So they're definitely in with everyone they need to be. So I certainly picked up a bunch of those. And Anna and I, we were like looking at the storage. That's what I did not expect. Like I couldn't buy anything because I can't travel with the type of storage systems that they had. I was fascinated by some of their...

'''Myke Hurley:''' The storage is one of the other big reasons that people that like Muji go to Muji. Yeah.

'''Ana Reinert:''' As soon as Brad saw the like three and four drawer clear acrylic storage that probably most people use for paper. But he looked at it and he's like, oh, those would hold pens really nicely. And I'm like, oh yeah, that would be a really good way to store your pens.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. They're like slimline drawers, right? So you can't get too big of a container, but they're like perfect for pen storage.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And they're clear. They're clear. So you can see where the pens are.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. I was impressed. I was... When I walked into the store, I was like, okay, Muji. And then by the time I was done, I was like super impressed.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I did kind of have to drag you out. Yeah. Yeah. Because we were on a bit of a time crunch at that point. And we were going to one more storage that's a bit further away. And I, at that point, was having to drag you both away. I was like, come on.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I will say Muji does have one problem that caused that is their paper selection is not well defined. It's overwhelming. And you have to hunt very specifically for a thing you're looking for. Okay. Like anytime I wanted to find graph paper in the size or format, I had to really pull out every... Go to like every individual shelf to find out which one was the one that might be the one for me. And I ended up buying no paper because I was never comfortable with finding the one. It was, I think that could be displayed a little bit better. It was overwhelming, the paper selection.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So then with the help of our New York subway guide, Tiffany Arment of Make Do here on Relay FM, which this whole trip did involve Brad's first subway ride. Brad looked a little bit lost on the subway. He was very cute.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I was excellent in the London tube transit. This was much more flying spaghetti monster than I imagined.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This was like London tube. I could get to point A to point B through points, all points in between very easily. I'm glad I wasn't in control of the maps.

'''Myke Hurley:''' There's a little bit more of a learning curve in the New York subway system. So once you get it, it's doable, but it is trickier, I find. Both systems have their blind spots. I will make a stand. We can maybe talk about Montreal versus New York bagels shortly, but I will make a stand and say that the London tube system is far superior to the New York subway system. Come at me, New Yorkers. So we went to one final store called Goods for the Study. Now, what is Goods for the Study? Because it seemed like the way it was being described is it was like part of a different store. Like it has two names or something.

'''Ana Reinert:''' It's an offshoot of McNally Jackson. McNally Jackson.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' And what is McNally Jackson?

'''Ana Reinert:''' McNally Jackson is a map company. So people might know it as Rand McNally.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. Yeah. But then they built this huge store there, which we didn't get to like the flagship store that started to carry stationery. Then I think they broke off Goods for the Study.

'''Ana Reinert:''' Yeah. I think.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I don't totally know, but it seemed like that was kind of the story we were getting. It's related to the McNally Jackson main store. And this was like the stationary part. Yeah.

'''Ana Reinert:''' So I'm a little, yeah, a little fuzzy on the whole detail. But what I was understanding from other people is that at some point, I think they're going to merge the two. So Goods for the Study and McNally Jackson will become one larger store that have sort of all of their merchandise. And I think it's probably got more to do with rent than anything.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. Yeah. Because there were two goods for the study. So when we were mapping them, people said, well, one of them's now closed, you know? So we could, it was a recent thing. So we had to go to the one that was still open. Yeah.

'''Ana Reinert:''' The one on Mulberry Street is closed now.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah.