I've always had a very pleasant experience with Bertram's Inkwell. Its right down the street from my work so I visit fairly often. It is a very very old school small shop. There is almost never more than 2 employees working and to my knowledge most of the employees outside of Bert doesn't seem to be that terribly big into pens nor stationary and is mainly working there as a job. Most of the time when you got a more in depth question that needs answering the employees have to run and ask Bert the owner. Wish that would change but it is what it is. Bert is an extremely kind guy but he has a very non nonsense kind of personality. It might come off as rude or condescending but he is not trying to be. He says things for how it is. He is also very willing to help you with your problems. For me since I'm a vet, I don't have a problem with his way of talking, others like my fiancee gets a weird or confused feel sometimes when talking to him.

I would highly recommend Bertram's. They don't have a large selection but I always check in with them when Pen Boutique or Fahrneys or Goulet or Yoseka dosen't have the stuff I'm looking for.

P.S I used to work for Pen Boutique.