Smiggle

I love stationery, and I love colour coordinating … therefore, I sometimes end up visiting Smiggle.
I must confess though … I only visit Smiggle if Kikki. K don’t have what I’m looking for, since Smiggle doesn’t really have the same type of ambience — more like squealing teenagers and the like — gah!
But the colours! Every time I’m put off going into a Smiggle shop, I remind myself of the COLOURS! Everything colour coordinated, all neatly and enticingly set out for the stationery-​obsessed. Why wasn’t this around when I was at school?
I feel products are sometimes aimed at younger teens, and often get a bit ‘cutesy’ for my liking — but if you’re looking for a hot pink notebook and matching stapler, then this is the right place for you!
So — products and pricing is 5 stars, ambience is 2 stars. Definitely on the cheap end of stationery, so don’t expect high quality. If you’re looking for a higher class of item with a more sophisticated aesthetic, go next door to Kikki K! ;)

Now, I love stationary stores. In fact, they are all organisational heaven. But Smiggle is by far way too childish for my likings. It’s perfect for your younger, just-​starting-​high-​school females who want something bright and cute for their desks, but otherwise it’s all a bit of a headache for me. I love quickiness, not brightness. Everything in this store is way too bright. But if you’re into that sort of thing, then great! It’s the store for you. Just not for me.

GAAAHHHHH!!!
I’m not too sure why people feel compelled to pay ridiculous amounts for cheaply produced, minimalist, color-​coordinated stationary.
This store should be for no one other than children.
But really.
This is what happens when the worship of materialism infiltrates the middle-​class working world.
Just buy a pack of handy-​dandy BIC pens and be done with it. Or at the very least head over to Officeworks, buy a decent, efficient biro that is worth the ridiculous dollars you pay for it.

I confess, I was a little bit curious about how much fun this shop would be, as I found it under «Toy shops». I was a bit pumped up when I was walking in. Once I had a quick look around, I could barely keep my hands off several products. I was grabbing one thing after another.
Two walls of stationery. Of. Diaries… separated by colours of baby blue, hot pink, purple and bright green. Several different types of objects. Wow. This was every office geek’s heaven. Before I knew it, my hands already grabbed three objects, and my credit card was out. ($ 45 total! But I didn’t even hesitate once.)
I may have managed to grab a purple travel case, new 2012 diary and pink wrapping paper for combining the two gifts — it all happened so fast. But I would highly recommend Smiggle for young ladies who have an obsession for office equipment/​colourful stationery, or guys who want to buy their girlie some kind of wonderful gift, but have run out of ideas. Be prepared to be the one and ONLY guy in this store. The experience ends up being fun nonetheless. Look out for those funky Smiggle headphones and laptop cases, they caught my eye.

I recently discovered this rather colourful store on Rundle Mall. I’m not sure whether the stuff they sell is directed towards children, teenagers or adults but you seem to get a mix of everyone in this shop.
They sell all your usual stationary: pens, paper, erasers, agendas etc. in bright purple, neon green, pink, baby blue. you get the idea. It’s reasonably priced for what it is, I think. Fun to have a quick browse through but unless I’ll have to buy something for a 10-​year old, I don’t think I’ll be back.

Okay confession time. I have a weird fetish. It may just be me, but I have a hard-​on for stationery shops. The smell of fresh rubber and lead just freakin does it for me. You may laugh but I believe there are many such folks out there, think about it, where do all those godamn pens go? If you are one of us then Smiggle is for you. Of course if you’re a kid you’ll love it for a different reason, but I’ve personally yet to grow out of funny shaped, brightly coloured office equipment. I even had a boyfriend who was equally sick, we spent alot of time loitering in stationery departments. In a nutshell — all the plastic and rubber of your dreams!