A wonderful week of stationery fun has come to an end for another year, and NSW coordinator and indie retailer Sarah Laker is over the moon at the annual event’s success.
Starting last Monday, the week was full of promotions, ideas and prizes from the headline sponsors Maped Helix, Pentel, Staedtler, Zebra Pen and Ohh Deer. The excitement of the week started eight weeks ago, with a weekly countdown sponsored by Silvine, Lamy, Sinclairs, Pilot, Exaclair, Manuscript and The Art File.
“I always get nervous the Sunday before National Stationery Week starts and worry no one will engage with the campaign,” Sarah, who owns Stationery Supplies in Marple and Wilmslow, told StationeryNews. “But at 6am I turned my phone on and the pings started – and they didn’t stop all week!”
It was a busy week for Sarah and her daughter Molly, who runs the social media channels for NSW. There were 300 posts scheduled and 400 people and businesses took part. On Instagram alone, National Stationery Week content was shared 60,000 times!
“It is one of the craziest weeks of the year for me,” says Sarah. “And then I go to London Stationery Show right in the middle of it! The show was amazing. There are so many stands to look at coupled with talking to all the sponsors I’d been liaising with over National Stationery Week, catching up with suppliers, seeing new products, placing orders, and meeting both old and new friends who own stationery shops, checking on how NSW was going over social media. It was full on.”
It didn’t stop there, Sarah also got a shout out for National Stationery Week from Sara Cox on her Friday night show on Radio 2. Sara Cox asked Sarah Laker if there was still a demand for stationery with everything being electronic, to which Sarah Laker told her: “Absolutely there is. And we’re right in the middle of National Stationery Week where we’re encouraging people to write and take time to be mindful by being creative.” She went on to explain how listeners can get involved in the week and when Sara Cox asked her if smelly erasers were still a thing, explained that her best sellers now are pastel highlighters and erasable pens.
