Originally, I intended to only write one post about the San Francisco Pen Show. But, after restarting my post four times, I realized I needed to break it into pieces. Today’s post is my show review.
I already know, based on the categories I rate, the SF Pen Show will have a poor showing. However, it’s not a bad show by any means. I definitely would go back again if the stars align. So, keep an eye out for my follow-up post(s).
With that out of the way, allow me to share my impressions of the 2025 SF Pen Show.
For those unfamiliar with it, the SF pen show is a typical Friday-Saturday-Sunday show and is widely accepted as the second-largest show in the USA, after the DC Pen Show. It’s currently being held at the Westin San Francisco Airport Hotel, with the ALoft San Francisco Airport Hotel serving as the overflow hotel — they’re only separated by a small parking lot. The show fills the entirety of the Westin ballroom, the five event rooms around the ballroom, and all of the foyer space around the rooms.
Jim and I have wanted to attend the SF Pen Show for 6+ years. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, it never quite worked out. Until this year.
Jim was most eager to see the Asian vendors that don’t make it to the DC and Baltimore shows. I was most interested in meeting some more indie makers. While there was certainly some vendor overlap with our home shows, there were also many vendors that were new to us.
Unlike other shows I’ve been to, the SF Pen Show opens EARLY — 9am on Friday and 8am Saturday and Sunday for all-access pass holders. Several vendors didn’t get set up for the 8am start. The early start didn’t discourage the attendees, though; there were crazy lines to get in.
For giggles, Jim and I headed to the Westin — we stayed at the ALoft — around 7:50 on Friday, thinking we could relax a bit. But nope, there was already a significant line. By the time the show opened at 9, the line went out the door and wrapped around the building. There was a similar line for the general admission opening at 1pm and slightly shorter lines for both openings on Sunday.
The show was chaotic with so many people; more on that later. Everyone raced to the tables they were most interested in. It was a feeding frenzy.
The hotel seemed to be better prepared than I’m used to. Whether it was because we ate earlier than usual or because the hotel actually did better, I don’t know. We had fairly good service for the two meals we ate at the hotel restaurant.
Organization
Unlike my home shows, I don’t have any real info about organization from the vendor perspective. That said, I did hear a couple of comments about vendors being well-treated.
Registration on Friday morning was easy, the tables were devoted to all-access pass pick-up, with badges separated into easy groupings by last name. There was also a badge decoration station which was a cool idea. There were stickers you could add to your badge, and markers for single-day pass purchasers to write their name on their “Hello my name is” sticker.
The signage was pretty good. The registration desk, badge decorating area, show swag table, and overflow rooms at the ALoft were well marked. I didn’t attend any of the seminars nor sign up for any of the workshops, so I don’t know if the seminar and workshop rooms were equally well marked, but I’m guessing they probably were.
My only “gripe” — if you want to call it that — is that with two hotels, we ended up with multiple after-hours events. Unlike single-hotel shows, where you can easily check out the different events and choose your favorite, you had to go between hotels to get to the different events. I realize there isn’t a fix for this, but it was something I noticed that I feel is worth mentioning.
I have to give show organizers credit for doing their best to divert the long lines to areas where they wouldn’t interfere with normal hotel traffic.
Layout
I realize that, with a couple of exceptions, the layout was probably about as good as it could be. That said, it was also pretty bad.
The rows were very tight. With some, there was only enough space for a single line of people to walk comfortably, and we had to fit 4 rows of people (shoppers for tables on either side, and both directions of “traffic”). When you add in backpacks and tote bags — some of which were far too large for a pen show — areas became almost impassable.
Because many areas were overcrowded, they also became overheated, especially on Friday. The smaller rooms seem to have had the temperature adjusted by Saturday, but the nibmeister row, especially on the end near the door, stayed rather warm, likely because of the windows there.
The odd, alternating layout in the ballroom also caused some bottlenecks. The switch from horizontal traffic to vertical traffic, back to horizontal traffic certainly caused some issues. The ballroom would have been better served to have a single layout in the center.
Also, while I realize that vendors pay for tables in specific areas, it doesn’t help traffic to have busy vendors in high-traffic areas or to have multiple busy vendors in one area. For example, the Hickory/Hawthorne room had Pinky Elephant, which had a back-and-forth line of people waiting to shop from because of a visiting artist, Yamamoto paper, Hanabi Glass Studio, and Kubo & Lucy which drew large crowds, on top of Inkyconverters, Reytorra, and Paper Treats which drew slightly smaller but still decent sized crowds. So, that room was a zoo all weekend.
Selection
The selection was amazing. The amount of stationery surprised me. There were lots of vendors with stickers, washi, stamps, pins, etc. The SF pen show felt more like an all-stationery show than a pen show.
There was an excellent balance between indie-made pens, large manufacturer pens, and vintage pens, as well as a great balance between fountain pens and rollerball/ballpoint/felt tip pens.
The only thing I would have liked to see more of was ink. While some individual stores brought their own inks — Nagasawa, Hachimonjiya, Amarillo Stationery, etc. — I’m used to seeing a wider variety. Only Dromgoole’s had a decent variety of brands. But, perhaps I’m just spoiled.
Price
The SF Pen Show is expensive. The all-access pass is $70, with the only benefit being early access on each of the three days. If there’s anything in particular you’re hoping to get, you need an all-access pass, or there is a decent chance it will be sold out.
An all-access pass grants you entry at 9am on Friday and 8am on Saturday and Sunday versus 1pm on Friday and 10am on Saturday and Sunday for general admission.
Single and multi-day passes are more in line with other shows:
- Friday: $25 (cash) or $26 (PayPal)
- Saturday and Sunday: $15 or $16
- Saturday or Sunday: $10 or $11
I also have to acknowledge that, even coming from the rather pricey DC area, I got hit with sticker shock at SF prices. I don’t count this against the show, it’s just part of the location. But, with the area being so expensive, it makes for a pricey show when you add in admission and the 8.63% sales tax.
Accessibility
Other than the hotel itself, the SF Pen Show isn’t accessible. Between the overcrowding and lack of space for foot traffic, the noise generated by so many people, and a complete lack of seating, it’s not a great show for anyone with sensory and/or mobility issues.
Unlike other shows I’ve been to, the SF Pen Show didn’t have a seating area in the show itself. If you got tired, you’d have to beg a seat from a vendor or walk all the way through the show and around to the hotel lobby.
At its busiest, the show was so packed that you’d get jostled every few seconds, so anyone unsteady on their feet could face a real problem.
I did see a couple of people attempting to make it through the show with mobility devices, but they never seemed to get very far. I’m not sure some of the rows were big enough for a wheelchair or motorized chair, even without people. And there weren’t really any places for chairs to turn around.
Scoring
As I said at the beginning, I knew the SF Pen Show wouldn’t have a great showing based on my rating criteria. That said, I do my best to stick to quantifiable criteria. Rating vibes or attendee friendliness is subjective, so I stay away from including things like that in my ratings. My next post will focus on the show experience as a whole and will be more favorable.
Overall Score: 2.7 / 5
Organization: 4 / 5 – While I don’t feel I know enough about the vendor side of the show to give a “complete” score, from the attendee standpoint, it was pretty good.
Layout: 1.5 / 5 – I feel like I’m being generous here, taking into account that, other than getting more space or moving hotels again, the show organizers likely did the best they could.
Price: 3 / 5 – While the general admission tickets are on par with other big shows, the all-access pass is rather pricey when you consider that there aren’t any benefits outside of early admission.
Selection: 4.5 / 5 – While I would like to have seen a greater variety of inks, I can’t really fault anything else. In terms of selection, San Francisco is an almost perfect show.
Accessibility: 0.5 / 5 – I would give this a zero, but the hotel itself seems to be very accessible, so I’m taking that into account.
Have you been to the SF Pen Show? If so, do you agree with my ratings? If not, are you interested in going? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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Attribution: The image I used in the share images for Instagram and Facebook is an edited version of “Golden Gate Bridge” by Fatima Tuz Zohura Nishat, on Vecteezy.com.
