Looking for a pen? Shoppers overwhelm Chicago stationary shops as social media touts 'return to analog'

A line of shoppers are often seen outside the Andersonville stationary shop Paper & Pencil. At the front of the line, a store employee acts as a bouncer — preventing overcrowding in the 400-square-foot shop.

The store's capacity has been tested since the Christmas shopping season, with customers arriving soon after it opens at 11 a.m. Earlier this month, it announced plans to maintain a queue system, especially for weekends and holidays, where customers must wait for an employee to let them into the store.

Stationary stores like Paper & Pencil — packed with stickers, fountain pens, washi tape, planners and notebooks — have seen sales surge. But it's not because consumers are looking to get organized in the New Year, though it has been a factor. Chicago shop owners credit social media and influencers who have marked this year as a return to analog, opting for physical media, entertainment and, yes, pens and paper.

“In the last year, I realized a lot of the things I was doing in my life were very automated, like getting groceries and food delivered, and people were sending me Google Calendar invites for everything,” Julie Jachym, 28, said, while shopping at Paper & Pencil. “I wasn’t very intentional about what I was doing. … Being more analog with my life has been very helpful in being more mindful.”

Atlas Stationers co-owner Brendan Schmidt, 30, said the COVID-19 pandemic led to new hobbies for some people. Founded in 1939, the family-run business has a store in the Loop that also serves as its warehouse for online orders.

“People really want to experience something tangible in a world that’s dominated by digital technology,” he said. “Sitting down and writing your thoughts out feels like a lost art that’s making a big resurgence.”

Sold out stationary festival

Paper & Pencil owners Tyler McCall and Eric Campbell opened their store in 2023. They were hesitant to start a brick-and-mortar business after the pandemic, but within six months of launching, they started turning a profit.

In 2025, sales were up year-over-year by 150%. The retailer has more than 80,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok.

“We have so many customers who ... work in a role where they are spending 90% of their day looking at a screen, and they are looking for this physical way to connect with themselves,” McCall said. “People are looking to deepen their connection with themselves through something that's real and tangible."

The married couple started Chicago’s first stationery festival last year. The 1,700 tickets available for the 2026 Chicago Stationary Fest sold out in 45 minutes, McCall said. Attendees of the three-day festival in March can shop from stationery vendors from around the world, most of whom only sell products wholesale to small businesses.

"Stationery Fest is cool because it gives people an opportunity to see all these vendors in one place, some vendors who don't show in the [U.S.] very often [and] some vendors who don't have physical locations," McCall said. "Some of the brands that we stock in our shop, we only stock a portion of their catalog so people can see their full catalog."

Social media has helped create a community around paper-based hobbies like junk journaling, which involves pasting scraps of items like tickets, receipts and magazines into a notebook, similar to the scrapbooking craze of the 2000s.

A Paper & Pencil employee introduced Jachym to Hobonichi Techo, a popular line of Japanese planners that have become ubiquitous in the journal world. Hobonichi's can cost as much as $70, with covers selling for over $150. The brand is mentioned more than 1.5 million times on Instagram and nearly 66,000 times on TikTok, often with users sharing how they've customized their planner.

Hobonichi released their 2026 planners on Sept. 1, and Paper & Pencil said the release created a line at their store, wrapping around multiple blocks.

“Some people waited up to four hours to shop with us on Hobonichi day, and they were so excited,” McCall said.

Atlas Stationers saw a 45% growth in sales in 2025, compared to 2024. High customer demand led to the store opening seven days a week starting in November, for the first time.

“We’re averaging like 300 people a day,” Schmidt said. “When you take a step back, you’re like, 'Holy cow — all these people are here for pens and paper.'”

Atlas often sees business decline after the holidays, but that hasn't happened this year, said Schmidt, whose grandfather founded the company. Sales at the 2,500-square-foot store has led online orders to become delayed as they run out of in-store merchandise.

The company's second floor, which they took over in 2024, serves as its office space for the 40-person staff, which includes a social media content team. Its social media presence is “by far the most important driver” of traffic, Schmidt said.

Atlas has more than 262,000 TikTik followers and 7 million likes on videos showcasing staffers' favorite products and videos refilling fountain pens. Their Instagram account has over 56,000 followers.

The company also hosts events, like vision board workshops and planner set-up meetups, that sell out quickly.

“If growth sustains at this level, we won’t have enough space,” Schmidt said.

‘Journal ecosystem’

There are now content creators who specialize in showcasing their oftentimes elaborate journal and planner setups.

“I’ve seen a huge surge on YouTube and TikTok, especially of people just talking about return to analog,” Rockford-based creator Shelby Zuba said. “I think people are just very fatigued with screens. … I want my kids and grandkids to have my journals.”

Zuba noticed her “journal ecosystem” videos did particularly well on social media. The 28-year-old’s so-called journal ecosystem consists of four notebooks, including two Hobonichi planners. She has a notebook for planning, junk journaling, diary entries and writing morning pages — spending about one to three hours a day filling out the books.

“I’ve always been one to keep a journal or a planner, but it's been kind of inconsistent until about two years ago,“ Zuba said. “I saw Hobonichi on TikTok and blindly placed an order — and that was it.”

For many creators, showing how they customize their planner or journal is a large part of the hobby.

Zuba recently uploaded a video to YouTube detailing “more analog hobbies,” where she explained the setup for her 2026 planner.

Popular brands like Hobonichi and Paper Republic also sell notebook covers in different colors. There are thousands of TikTok and Instagram posts showing different ways users designed their covers or pages of their notebooks, with stickers and colored markers.

But for Paper Bunny Press founder Samantha Rekas, the customization options were overwhelming.

Rekas, 33, began selling self-designed stationery goods, like stickers, on Etsy in 2013. Her brand is known for it's snarky, often expletive-filled phrases and colorful illustrations.

“It’s like grown-up Lisa Frank … colorful, but snarky and relatable,” she said.

By 2023, she was selling calendars and has sold over 5,500. Last year, she launched planners filled with illustrations.

"Creating total customization is so fun, especially for a designer, but sometimes people just don't have the time to sit every day to make their layouts and their spreads," Rekas said. "So it's nice to give people an option where it's already done for them in like this colorful, chaotic way."

She's sold her products at street festivals and built up a fanbase that's asked for a permanent location, she said. Next month, she plans to open a store in Lincoln Square, 4956 N. Damen Ave.

"Having that customer base built up has also motivated and inspired me to open the storefront, knowing that I will have people to support my business and show up and be excited about it," she said.

At Paper & Pencil, Ashley McCarl, 26, was visiting for the first time and unsure of what she wanted.

"I'm starting a journal. It's my New Year's resolution," she said. "I've been watching videos all morning. ... I just want to do something creative that's not on my phone."

Schmidt, of Atlas Stationers, said catering to their audience — with decorative stickers, washi tapes and markers — has helped create a loyal customer base.

On Tuesday afternoon, at least 20 customers were browsing the items at Atlas Stationers.

“All these people are here for pens and paper,” Schmidt said. “Who would have thought?”