Artist & Craftsman Supply San Diego — Attraction in San Diego

I'm so glad to find out that the art supply store I had found (and then thought I lost) did NOT go out of business.. They just relocated. I remember them being on an obscure corner off of San Diego ave. in Old Town and then one day they were gone. Well, my latest creative endeavour required googling 'art supply store near me" and voila , I was reunited with "artist and craftsman" and it feels so good. I feel kinda silly that I never noticed them at their new location. Sorry guys! Well since this is a review maybe I should get on with that...1. They have PARKING! That's major for being in the hub of hillcrest. Parking is behind the store /west , front entrance door faces fourth ave/east. 2.Their store looks to be bigger than it used to be and is full of a multitude of things but not jam packed in a claustrophobia inducing manner and seems to be intuitively laid out and organized by project type. 3. A BIG 5star+ for their displays re: price - I noticed that they had tags stating "list price" /"our price" for many of the items I was shopping for. Feels nice to know I'm supporting local business AND not paying full retail price (other reviews mentioned a student discount , if that applies to you then by all means ask!). And I saved my biggest rave review for last but only because I wanted to end on the highest note possible - the vibe in this place is so awesome and so mellow- maybe you simply want to find a pencil sharpener (they have a Swingline Eager Beaver one... Yeah, it's a figurine of a beaver that sharpens your pencil= har har!) or maybe you need a paper mache mold of a bear and some glitter paint to jazz it up, or possibly something more refined like an artists easel, canvas, and oil paints... regardless of what you are shopping for the staff will help you enthusiastically whether you appear be willing to spend $5 or $500. No arty farty snobbishness. That registers the highest of high marks for me.

For the staff of artist and craftsman = Overdue thank you - when you were at your previous location Your staff helped me with a project of making plaques using antique paper scenes placed on a wood background and your help came in the form of mod podge and sponge brushes. I was so worried about ruining my expensive and irreplaceable antique paper pieces but I decided to trust you and you were right. Thanks

My current thank you based on my visit today- ugh, epic reviewer fail = I don't remember the name of the young lady who assisted me today with colored pencils, but she was very helpful. She suggested I look at and test two brands of pencils as a back up to my prismacolors, and I have discovered that I am happily impressed with the koh I noor polycolors from hardtmuth . I will come back to artist and craftsman to buy the single stock to flush out all of their colors.

Many thanks, past...

I have been going to this store for YEARS. I live in the area. I go to college for art, after I got out of the military. Normally I like this place, but recently the new cashiers that I’ve seen there have been increasing rude. To be fair there are some really great ones that always are friendly to me. I tend to take my time walking around the store because I simply like to browse and check out art stuff I might be interested in. Yesterday I went in to grab some colored pencils and the woman behind the counter basically accused me of stealing. I found her rude and condescending accusations to be very disheartening since I try my best to support small businesses. I know I don’t “look” like an artist and I have severe social anxiety. I also have a rewards account with the business, so why would I even steal when you have my information! I spend Hundreds of dollars there every MONTH. But (I believe) just because I was in comfy clothes, (sweats and some khaki pants) that I got accused of stealing! I feel like some of the people there always speak down to me when I go in, pretentious vibes. Or talk to me like I’m a child (I’m 40 and short). I have never had this problem before in all the years I’ve been going here. It really made me never want to come back. She could have apologized but instead she was like “ohhh, never mind, it wasn’t you” … if you didn’t know what the person looked like, maybe don’t accuse someone else who comes here all the time of stealing! If you have a problem like that, why didn’t she address it when it came up with the ACTUAL person who she thought stole, do you not have cameras? I have a lot of pride in myself, I found it very vile that someone would ever accuse me of stealing. Worse to not even apologize and then play it off as if you didn’t just be rude and condescending to me. Also, one of the girls just stares at people when they come in and it’s really uncomfortable. She doesn’t even say anything, it’s so creepy. They are helpful to some people and not to others. There have been other times when they are super rude but this time I just couldn’t take it anymore. Sucks because I really don’t want this bad experience to taint the years of positive experiences I’ve had but I really like just go shop at Blick or Amazon...

Absolutely terrible customer service. My girlfriend is a student at Watts and gets most of her supplies from here. She told me about how much she liked this place until yesterday. So I have a broken foot due to a motorcycle accident on the freeway and I am on crutches. When we arrived at the store yesterday no one bothered to open the door for me nor even acknowledge my presence when I made it through the door. I know I might sound pretentious but it's difficult to be roaming around on crutches. Even as I was leaving an employee was walking ahead of me and went outside. I was only three steps away and she didn't even bother to hold the door open for me. Just walked right through. To sum it up there were two ladies out front doing artwork on a large canvas that didn't bother to greet me and help me in, the counter clerk didn't bother to greet or offer any help, and even as I was leaving after my purchase the final employee didn't even bother to help hold the door open for an injured patron. HORRIBLE SERVICE! My girlfriend will now be shopping elsewhere and has told her classmates about this experience. There are too many places to choose from for...