Stamps Stores In London?

Hi friends,
im planing a trip to London and I would love to hear your recommendations of stamps stores particularity those who specialize in British commonwealths.

thank you!
Ohad

There aren't a whole lot of possibilities left, but do a search on this forum and you will get some ideas. This question comes up from time to time

Peter

I believe Stanley Gibbons has the largest stamp store in the world in London.

Doesn't Gibbons sell their stock pretty much at full catalog value? I've also heard complaints that there is somewhat of a stuffy attitude toward casual browsers in their shop.

I don't know, I saw the store while I was on a tour bus. I tried to talk the wife into visiting it but she thought the Tower of London was more interesting. I just can't understand her sometimes.

I see that it now costs £28 to visit the Tower. It was probably a shilling when I last visited. I really don't see how they get any visitors at all at those prices, except for eccentric millionairesses like Ken's wife.

I don't think that the staff in Gibbons are all that stuffy, it's more the aura of the shop itself. What used to be premises crowded with customers, from spotty brats like me to sophisticated collectors, is now usually virtually empty, reflecting the change in both the collecting demographic and Gibbons's commercial focus. Across the road is another stamp shop, and that's it for an area that used to be heaving with philatelic and other, similar businesses. There is a weekend market near Embankment station that others will be able to comment on. In essence, unlike other European cities, these sort of small businesses have been pretty much priced out of central London by rates, rents etc, even if they could have survived the challenge of the internet.

NYC now has I believe only ONE walk in stamp shop. Anyone who's read Herman Herst's book 'Nassau Street' about the stamp dealing culture there in the 30's and 40's will find that utterly amazing.

How about Argyll Etkin? Their website http://www.argyll-etkin.com/ says that they have a store "at 17 Waterloo Place SW1Y 4AR close to Piccadilly Circus." Does seem rather high-end.

Wow. We had visited the Tower when we visited London and do not recall being that high.

My soon to be 21 year old son is visiting London in May with a college group. He has offered to visit SG and bring me back something, I told him thanks but no. I can order using their site and while I have my eye on their reprint of the New Age album that's too big to fit into his carry on. He plans to visit the Sherlock Holmes Museum so I told him just bring me back something from there.

Ohad and others,

Also note that the Strand Stamp Fair will be at the Royal National Hotel, Russell Square, London, on all of the following dates in 2017:

17 March
7 April
5 May
2 June
7 July
And others.

Also consider visiting:
The Tapling Collection at the British Library
Statue of Rowland Hill and Postmans Park
Royal Philatelic Society, 41 Devonshire Place (advance notice and permission required)

Chris

I was last in Gibbons about three years ago. It was being renovated at the time, which made things a little difficult. I went in with a shopping list but ended up just spending £1 and I was almost apologetic as the salesperson had gone to a lot of trouble to make a very small sale.
The salesman was even more apologetic that he could not have been more helpful.
There was a time when there were a lot of stamp shops around Strand, Leicester Square, Charing Cross but as far as I know the only two in the immediate vicinity are Gibbons and the Strand Stamp Centre.
I never found either to be stuffy or exclusive. But certainly at least one of the now closed shops was VERY stuffy.
I would also recommend a stamp shop in the suburbs...Enfield Stamp SHop. On my only visit, I had trouble finding it (my fault) ...it is about 200 metres from an overground rail station called Gordon Hill.

thank you all for your help!

When I was in London back in the mid-2000s I did not see many stamp stores but was not looking that hard. I did walk by the SG store on the Strand.

When I was in Paris, I saw a lot of stamp stores in alley shops (multiple in an alley) and had tables outside as well. It was like a little stamp mall.

Rue Drouot still has lots of stamp shops (not always open) - quite a contrast to central London, and a nice walk from the Palais Royal (where there's still one stamp shop, next to a place selling vintage pipes) towards Montmartre

It's frustrating to hear that the shops on Rue Drouot are not always open. My wife and I are planning a trip to London and Paris in about 18 months and I am hoping I can visit many or most of the shops during a 3-4 day visit in Paris.