Thursday - November 23, 2006
An all-too brief afternoon at Luis Store in Escolta.
The curly-haired cheerful mother figure behind the
counter asked, "For you or a gift?" I said, "For me!" with a huge grin. Before
me were Sheaffer Targas and Parker 51s and, well, never mind the Jotters, and
desk pens - desk pens! - and all were in boxes, or inside plastic sleeves. I was
finally in Luis Store, in Escolta, thanks to a generous blog visitor who
mentioned it and then courteously emailed me the address. Of course it took me
months to fight my way out of Makati. But today, circumstances conspired to
bring me to the Port Area, which in my mind was close enough to Escolta, never
mind that my driver looked at me funny when I said so.
The sign has a graphic of a gold nib on it. It also reassures me they have been pen specialists since 1943.
I held the Snorkel with the turquoise body and the gold cap. They didn't want to sell it to me yet. They told me to come back. Talk about enabling.
They thought they were only going to a meeting, but they ended up pen shopping with me. Chiqui asked the Luis Store pen maven where we could grab lunch. She said, "Go straight, turn left at the Aqua station and look for the place with French windows. Porkchop. Order the porkchop." We walked to the nameless restaurant and obediently ordered the porkchop, together with Cha-Bihon, Sate Beef Sotanghon and Ampalaya with Egg, all excellent. (See proof on satisfied faces above.)
When I returned, sate beef happy, Pen Maven sat me down and handed me two pens, both Sheaffer Imperials, one with a fine nib and the other with a broad. I was surprised how both flexed slightly, although she scolded me about flexing them, after handing me tissue so I could ineffectually dab away a stray porkchop stain on my pastel-blue pants. She quoted me a price, I asked for a discount, she asked her mom (Pen Matriarch), her mom said the price they quoted me already included a discount, I agreed, handed them the money, and got P50.00 more than what I was expecting in change, handed over with a smile by the Pen Matriarch.
We all need to get out more. Makati is urbanite-lovely, but Escolta is good for the soul.
The sign has a graphic of a gold nib on it. It also reassures me they have been pen specialists since 1943.
I held the Snorkel with the turquoise body and the gold cap. They didn't want to sell it to me yet. They told me to come back. Talk about enabling.
They thought they were only going to a meeting, but they ended up pen shopping with me. Chiqui asked the Luis Store pen maven where we could grab lunch. She said, "Go straight, turn left at the Aqua station and look for the place with French windows. Porkchop. Order the porkchop." We walked to the nameless restaurant and obediently ordered the porkchop, together with Cha-Bihon, Sate Beef Sotanghon and Ampalaya with Egg, all excellent. (See proof on satisfied faces above.)
When I returned, sate beef happy, Pen Maven sat me down and handed me two pens, both Sheaffer Imperials, one with a fine nib and the other with a broad. I was surprised how both flexed slightly, although she scolded me about flexing them, after handing me tissue so I could ineffectually dab away a stray porkchop stain on my pastel-blue pants. She quoted me a price, I asked for a discount, she asked her mom (Pen Matriarch), her mom said the price they quoted me already included a discount, I agreed, handed them the money, and got P50.00 more than what I was expecting in change, handed over with a smile by the Pen Matriarch.
We all need to get out more. Makati is urbanite-lovely, but Escolta is good for the soul.