In a recent Facebook reel, owner of Elgin’s Pencil Me In store, Sarah Holmes revealed that the shop printed 51,608 pencils in the past year. “Although in reality it’s more than this, with all the misprints, test prints, donations and gifts,” says Sarah. “I’m proud and I’m grateful to the team who have made this happen. Works out to be about 1000 a week, or 165 a day!”
Pencil Me In has been printing personalised pencils since 2016 and business has steadily grown over the years. “Last year about 40,000 of the pencils were for the wholesale side of our business,” says Sarah. “We really love creating custom sets for independent shops and businesses all over the UK. Last year we worked with The Tate, Disney, Towner Gallery for The Turner Prize, UK Parliament gift shop among many cool independent shops. This year we have been super busy printing for The Sherbourne, Shakespeare Globe Theatre and lots of our independent brands.”
People’s names are the most popular things to be printed on pencils, but Sarah says nicknames and in-jokes are a close second. “I really love it when someone has pencils printed to celebrate the opening of a friend’s new business because you really can’t beat personalised stationery,” adds Sarah.
“Custom-printed pencils continue to be popular as they are a unique gift for someone but also it’s a great price point being under £10. We also offer personalised pencil, notebook and card printing and this is always been popular too, especially if you can keep it at a gift-friendly price point.”
