Panduro is a hobby/craft supply chain in Denmark, and this particular location is situated right about the middle of Odense's popular Gågade shopping district.
This place reminds me of what hobby and craft stores used to look like back in the states, before it all became about low cost and cheap quality. In almost every section, you can find top shelf brands and high quality supplies here, with everything from sewing to scrap booking to stationary and writing implements. The latter is what brought me in on this most recent occasion (late July, 2019) and I was not disappointed.
Among the many offerings, what stuck out the most was a wide selection of Faber Castell. For the uninitiated, they're a German brand that has historically put out some very nice pens, pencils, erasers and even leads. In my case, I was looking to shore up my selection of mechanical pencils, and was thrilled to find that they stocked the GRIP 1345 pencils, in both .7mm and .5mm. These are the sought after "GRIP" models, as opposed to the newer version, colloquially referred to as "GRIP II", which I'm not overly fond of. In addition to great looks, retractable tip, excellent balance and considerable heft, the GRIP 1345 is a Japanese-made import (probably made by Penac), so quality is top tier.
You can safely wager that you would not find anything this nice in a hobby supply store in the states (only China-made garbage like most of the current Alvin Draftmatic pencils), so it's always great to be able to pick up the good, hard to obtain stuff while I'm traveling in Denmark.
If you're meandering about Gågade and have any kind of hobby, craft, stationary or writing implement needs, definitely check this place out. My only regret is that we'll never have these in the states! read more
