Bestpen (Besen) store in Seoul

Hadn’t bought a new pen in a couple of years and I figured it was time to get back into the hobby. I’m currently living in Seoul, so I was looking for brick-and-mortar stores on the map in the r/fountainpens sidebar. To my surprise, the only physical location of a large online retailer (bestpen.kr) happens to be a subway stop away from my apartment, so I had to pay them a visit.

First of all, they have a beautiful display of vintage pens and inks. A lot of Parkers, from Vacumatics to 51s, all in great condition. I don’t think these are for sale, and the salespeople didn’t speak a word of English (I know about 5 Korean words).

They have a huge Lamy display, with Safaris in a couple dozen colors (even some of the latest releases). Nice selection of affordable Hero and Jinhao pens above that.

They carry most European brands (haven’t seen ant Viscontis though) and they also have a nice selection of Japanese pens: Sailor, Pilot, Platinum. The Japanese ones are mostly in UEF/EF/F nibs unfortunately.

Cool selection of calligraphy nibs. Tester pens behind that. The tester selection wasn’t great, and you can’t try most pens before purchasing (or maybe my nonverbal communication skills aren’t that great). Regardless, you can freely play around with the tester pens, and for the Pilots they had interesting nib options such as SF or FM.

When I asked about Iroshizuku inks, the lady opened this catalog where they have hundreds of ink swabs. Most of them were organized by brand, but these pages had handy comparisons between different brands.

The ink display behind the counter looked magical, but unfortunately I don’t think you can try them. Still nice to look at I guess.

Although I went in looking to buy a Platinum 3776, I ended up getting this beautiful Pilot Custom 74, Medium nib, in very dark green (black if you ask me). It’s my first gold-nibbed pen and will replace my Visconti Rembrandt (steel nib) as my daily driver.

Obligatory gold nib close-up. I tried the FM nib in the store and there is little difference between that and this Medium. Still, it’s a Japanese Medium so I’d say it’s about as broad as a Lamy F.

Apart from the pen, I got a bottle of Iroshizuku Kon-peki (kind of regretting not getting the Asa-gao, but this is a great excuse for a second trip next week) and a bottle of Sailor Jentle Irori (red). On top of that, I got a free desk pad and pen cleaning set! They were only supposed to give me one gift (desk pad, cleaning set, or Jinhao 599), but I guess they felt bad that I had spent an hour and half in the store mostly because we couldn’t communicate properly.

All in all, shopping at Bestpen/Besen was a great experience, regardless of the language barrier. Many things were sold out, but prices are reasonable (136,000 won ~ $118 for the 74) and their ink selection is incredible. Also, if there are any pen geeks in Seoul who have made it thus far, feel free to DM me on reddit to grab coffee and geek out about pens!