I’ve been thinking about Piccadilly notebooks lately, as things have been changing in the retail landscape for them.
Piccadilly has mainly sold their notebooks (by which I mean their Moleskine-like “Essential Notebooks”) exclusively in Borders stores. They are stocked in the bargain section rather than with the rest of the stationery products. As far as I know, the pricing has always been $3.99 for the Small notebooks, $5.99 for Medium, and $7.99 for large. There were some occasional issues with quality, but the company made efforts to address them, and the notebooks are a great value compared to other brands. Many Borders stores seemed to have difficulty keeping them in stock.
In the meantime, Piccadilly has (on and off) offered the notebooks to consumers directly through their website. When they were first introduced, they charged $4.99 for a small notebook. Then there was a period where they stopped selling online but they later reopened the online store selling their notebooks at the full suggested retail prices: Small $6.95, Medium $9.95 and Large $12.95, with some offers of discounts or free shipping with larger purchases. Just recently, they have lowered their online pricing to match the bargain pricing offered at Borders stores: Small $3.99, Medium $5.99, Large $7.99. Shipping is a flat $3.99.
But what will happen now? Borders has been having financial difficulties, and as I write this, it looks like they’re in the final stages of preparing a bankruptcy filing. I wonder how much money Piccadilly is owed by Borders, and whether the company can survive having their exclusive retailer go bankrupt? If you’re a Piccadilly fan, now might be a very good time to stock up…
Their other notebooks have been sold at B&N for a long time I wonder if they will move this line there?
Hmm, haven’t tried these Piccadilly version of Moleskines, but have also noticed that one of my favorite value wire ring sketchbooks with the Hokusai Wave covers have been harder to find at B&N stores where they used to be a mainstay in their bargain section.
I think I might go stock up (even though I already have way way way too many notebooks (according to my family)). I hope B&N and Borders make it through as they are my two top notebook suppliers!
Oh no!!!!!!!!!! I really want Borders to go away!!! Since I got mad at Barnes and Noble, I’ve become a big fan of Borders.
Oh, and I forgot to add, I give Picadilly notebooks for gifts all the time…..ugh! Please don’t go!
Story in Salon that Borders has filed for bankruptcy. Says they will be closing most of their “superstores” over the next few weeks.
http://www.salon.com/books/bookstores/index.html?story=/news/feature/2011/02/16/borders_books_chapter_11_bankruptcy
The store closings have been going on for a few weeks already. Here in Atlanta, it seems all the locations are going. I stopped by a location near my office, and all journals/blank books were already wiped out. B&N here also sells Picadilly as mentioned, so I would assume that they would just shift to B&N completely.
I bought a Piccadilly at Borders a few month back. I think I paid $4.99 for the medium size. Kept seeing the brand name online & was curious. Was extremely disappointed– looked and felt cheap. Worst of all, the binding ripped as I was trying to insert it into a leather cover. Fell apart before I even used it! Wanted to chuck the thing across the room!
I own many notebooks from various manufacturers and this is one of the worst. Won’t buy another one.
Moleskine notebooks were sold at this store as well but they didn’t have any in the large size that I wanted.