Yoseka Stationery (courtesy Neil Ni)
Sept. 14, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
A boutique stationery shop founded in Taiwan has recently opened a U.S. branch in Sunnyside.
Yoseka Stationery, the name of the shop, opened last month at 48-06 41st St., and offers a wide selection of curated products ranging from classy to cute, including notebooks, diaries, pens, greeting cards, cases, and more.
The shop is owned by husband and wife duo Neil and Daisy Ni, who live in Sunnyside and work as a software engineer and as a speech language therapist, respectively.
Neil, whose family founded Yoseka in the early 1980s in Taiwan, his native country, said he wanted to expand the shop as a way of bringing Asian stationery to the states.
“I’m trying to provide a stationery store experience like the ones in Asia,” he said.
Neil says stationery is taken “very seriously” in Taiwan and Asia in general, with shops there housing hundreds of unique supplies that make it easy for anyone to have a large, personalized collection.
The shops also tend to have stations where customers can try out pens, pencils, and other supplies.
The sleek Sunnyside shop will aim to capture that experience, with shelves aligned with colorful parchment, high-quality fountain pens, minimalist planners and notebooks, and other items from about 40 Asian vendors. Tables in the middle are also outfitted with items to test, including blank notepads for pens to scribble on.
Inside Yoseka Stationery at 48-06 41st St. (via Instagram)
Neil says the experience of trying out a pen or sifting through dozens of well-made supplies with your own hands is unbeatable, as he learned when shifting the U.S. branch from a small subscription box service to a pop-up before a permanent store.
“That’s the kind of experience we are providing for people,” he said. “We let you try and walk you through. You don’t get that in Amazon and other stores.”
Apart from stationery, workshops will be periodically held in store, beginning with calligraphy workshops next week. More information is available at www.YosekaStationery.com.
Yoseka Stationery is open from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
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8 Comments
They will never make money due to the low traffic and high rent.
Not with that attitude
SO happy to have a great little shop on the south side! I’ll be spending way too much money in here
nice concept place. the store employee (the lady) was friendly and personable. I never see anything like this before in Queens.
I’ve been in the store 2x. Daisy is very helpful and remembered me on my 2nd visit. She’s so helpful to explain all the different items they have in store. Good luck to them in their new venture.
Nice place. It should be on Skillman!
Heaven’s forbid your feet should step on to the South side of Queens Blvd.
Nice!