Ode to Office Supply Stores

Why are office supply stores so inviting? In a world where people feel like they lack control over the most basic of elements of their lives, there is nothing quite so inviting as an office supply store. With rows and rows of products, all neatly organized in bright colors and smart design, the store is a treat to both eye and orderly imagination. Corner kiosks feature the latest must-have products from colorful clips to a complete line of moleskin products expanded to include everything the moleskin user desires, from pencils to carrying cases. What does the need to own products of this sort of stuff tell us about our own human condition?

I think that I am not alone in my admiration of a well-stocked office supply store. Last week my son’s pencil supply was depleted to critical levels. Knowing what an emotional response could be generated by the purchase of poorly designed writing accoutrements; I put off my stop to the office supply store until he could accompany me to its hallowed grounds. Finally, we arrived at a spare moment on Friday night while we were wasting time before having dinner and picking up his sister. He spent no less than a half hour weighing the options of aesthetic verses function. Color, style, eraser length, and price were all part of the criteria used in the selection of the perfect mechanical pencil pack. After apologizing profusely for the time it took, which really wasn’t necessary, he selected three packs of pencils, a home pack, a school pack, and a low-budget loaner pack of standard-issue yellow non-mechanical pencils.  He talked at length about the importance of making a good selection and how it would impact his success at school and beyond.

Days later, he continues to revisit the trip and his selections as a highlight of the weekend. This might be a sad commentary on what little we did this past weekend, but I think not. Instead it makes me wonder if he was predisposed to take pleasure in his trip to the office supply store, or if I passed my fondness for the products on to him. This isn’t the first time a store of this nature has attracted our interest. On trips to larger cities, we now seek out comic book stores, bookstores, and art supply stores, which have the same office store atmosphere with even cooler stuff.

Maybe the allure of the office supply store lies in the desire to acquire cool stuff? They seem to sell us stuff by appealing to a need to provide us with better versions of what we already use. Who can get by without paper, writing utensils, and tape? Yet, who knew that these sorts of things could be attractive in addition to functional, and could be connected to our very identity. We somehow feel better about ourselves when we have a pen or a tape dispenser in our favorite color. It allows the people around us to better see who we are by the stuff we collect. I think that office supply stores are inviting because they combine identity to necessity, and allow self-expression in the presentation of the ordinary.