Cheap Art Supplies at Five Below
Right in time for summer sketching!
There is a Five Below right in the Tops Plaza right near my gym, and one day recently, I decided to swing by.
This sign was a sign that bargains were to be found within!
I headed immediately for the book department.
Hahaa.. Since I shot this video I have gotten my hair cut!
From the book department, I headed, as I promised, to the art department. The store’s sound system cracks me up.
The sticker library I mentioned did not end up making the cut. It was cute, this mini little booklet, but even $5 purchases add up.
However, I did score a pretty good haul!
I got a sketch set for $5, and a fat sketchbook with nice feeling paper, also for $5. You learn quickly that Five Below means Five Dollars. You do not find too many things priced below.
The sketch set comes in a cute plastic case you can snap shut and carry with you. That was the main reason I got it. Plus, you can always use more pencils and erasers and pencil sharpeners and graphite sticks and Conte crayons and whatnot.
The case looks beat up — it actually isn’t. However it will be soon! I destroy all my art supplies. I buy these fancy sketchbooks at Hyatt’s that let you decorate the cover. And I never bother decorating the cover. Who cares? I just throw them into the line.
Drawing is one of the world’s cheapest pursuits. I do not know why everyone doesn’t do it. You can actually just go to Hyatt’s and get the world’s best sketch pencils and erasers for practically nothing. However I loved the case here at Five Below, the case these pencils were packed in.
And… I got a pocket sketch set! It has eight mini pencils, an eraser, and a sharpener. I took its picture with a normal pencil so you can see how tiny it is.
Major score: this beautiful book on calligraphy, for $5.
I will have to review this book separately. It’s full of art as well as lettering. And you know me, I love anything related to ink.
This is like something you would find in the Albright-Knox gift shop, only for a lot more money. Did I type Albright-Knox? I meant to type AKG.
Anyway, lots of fun at Five Below. I was not sure it would be worth my while but now I know. I will be reporting in the coming days of how my purchases work out in practice.
I have not stopped into this store often. I went for the first time because my sister Katie said that recorders were too be had there. I wanted to learn to play the recorder, being that I do not have enough hobbies.
I never did find any recorders at Five Below. I checked the other day too and there was none. However my sister ended up giving me a recorder she had and was not using. So, all good!
Most items at Five Below are Five Above, from what I saw — that is, $5 and above. However to be fair, some are lower than $5. Here is an Old Maid game for $1. Can you believe kids still play Old Maid? They must, because there was only one pack left. That pack is the Old Maid!
There were also these adorable dresses, for $5. I almost bought one, then passed because it was polyester, which I hate when it gets hot. However, I might go back and grab one. I love long dresses. And I wanted to brag that I got this dress at Five Below!
What has everyone else scored at Five Below? What else should I be looking for?
Suggestions are welcome!
Further Reading
My New Bargain Basement Art Supplies
Remember a couple of weeks ago, my car was being serviced, and I was stuck wandering around North Buffalo on foot. And I stopped into our ugly little strip plaza library. And there was this book there, Cut Paper Pictures.
We're Going In: Thrift Madness at 'The Bins'
There is thrift shopping. And then there is extreme thrift shopping. The kind that happens by the pound, at a place called “the Bins.”
Mary Kunz Goldman is known in Buffalo for her long career with The Buffalo News, writing about classical music and authoring the long-running Buzz column as well as a popular series titled “100 Things Every Western New Yorker Should Do At Least Once. She is the author of “Pennario,” a bittersweet memoir about her friendship with the great concert pianist Leonard Pennario — and also “Sketches of Buffalo,” a book of drawings of her hometown, available at the Totally Buffalo Store.