St. Louis Art Supply — Attraction in St. Louis

I was looking forward to visiting this store as the website shows images of a very well stocked art supply store with a wide variety of items. Boy, was I wrong! First of all, parking stinks. Across the street, No Parking Signs are all up and down the street. There's a dock next to their entrance so you cannot park near there in case trucks are loading/unloading. Just past that are 15 minutes parking signs, so be careful where you park. There's a lot nearby, but it has No Trespassing signs on the fence. So then, it's a little confusing once you arrive. Go all the way up the ramp to enter the first door. You will start to see art materials, but don't walk into the door straight across from the entrance...walk into the common area a little and you will see the store entrance. There are signs to not let the cat out....so, if you are allergic, do not go in that first door. That's where I first encountered the cat. So once you enter the actual shop, you will find a scarce stock of art materials. Nothing seems organized in any kind of way. I had to be directed to each item in my list. Once found, I had to ask for the sharpened and not broken off pencils I was there to buy. Also, there is no sampling of pens or anything. The merchandise on the floor was damaged if even in stock. The bulk of the inventory seemed to mostly be in a warehouse. They check you out through a window like at a Dentist office. There is nobody on the sales floor, which is very, very small. If you came to view something before buying, this is not the store for you. Prices are OK, Blick's are definitely better. The Kuretake Gansai watercolor paints I wanted were much cheaper on Amazon. It's great that they sell single pans, but not such a great attraction to get me to return unless I am already at IKEA which is nearby. I had actually driven past Art Mart to try this place, but ended up going back to get the things that were not in stock at STL Art Supply. I was very disappointed and have no plans to return. This is an online store that has a small retail area with limited and very unorganized stock. The website shows an artist area where you can sit back, relax, and create with your new art materials... I never found that. Very...

To provide context to my review, I have been in the art world professionally for 15 years as a tattooer. Art stores have been my place of belonging & peace. I thought I would have found one in this seemingly unique store online as l am based in CA as a full time tattooer. I frequent many in socal and other states while traveling. I am friends with many owners and are friends with even more employees. A couple days before my birthday, I ordered the tsunago pencil splicer and hit Apple Pay. Immediately I regretted it be it was set to an old shipping address for some reason. One of those dumb flukes.

I immediately called & spoke with a sweet employee who absolutely assured & guaranteed me that the lady who takes care of the emails would see it. Within 5 minutes of the phone call the email had been sent out. Fast forward to last night & 1 had recieved no email back, and no package. Upon checking the tracking it had been delivered to the old address. So I send out a couple emails describing my plight as I found out the item that I had ordered was now out of stock. I expressed how bummed I was. This morning I call the shop and talk to another very sweet employee and tell her my situation and feeling very good about the interaction & that I would be taken care of.

11 am rolls around and I check my email and see I have received one back finally, from Xena, who I learned is the owner of this establishment. Everything was polite, but incredibly condescending. She said that I was responsible for the mistake, and that there's nothing she's willing to do and that the original email I sent ended up in the spam folder. Took zero accountability, (assuming she had actually been told to look out for an email), then proceeded to urge me to look out for the product in their shop in the future. Lol. Xena, you are a silly goose if you think I would spend a single other cent or speak of your shop positively to any other single tattoo...

St. Louis Art Supply has to be one of my favorite spots in the city. As an artistic dabbler and dilettante and general ADHD hobby-haver I find a new fascination there every time I visit or check their website, but more importantly they always have the notebook and pens I use for bullet journaling in stock, along with a ton of other Japanese stationery items that are tough to find offline.

They don't have everything a person could possibly want but in this age of instant gratification and megamarts it's kind of nice to be in a heavily curated retail space where I know that the selection was chosen with care and intention, which is obvious throughout every inch of the shop.

I love to visit when I have a project in mind, or when I need inspiration, or even just for a little treat (a category of item that they excel in -- scented pencils, pretty note sets, charming washi tape, cute erasers all come to mind).

The staff is always kind and knowledgeable if I have questions, encouraging about my goofy little creative endeavors, and getting to see Malcolm the cat is a treat and a blessing. I like their new pop-up space as well, and I'm excited to see them start carrying more supplies for crafts like sewing and printmaking!

If you need art supplies in the city it's a great first stop. They might not have every single thing on your list but chances are you'll find like ten things you desperately need that you had never even heard of before. Looking forward to my next visit with great...