MaiDo Stationery & Gifts
Categories: Cards & Stationery, Art Supplies [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Union Square, SOMA845 Market St
Westfield San Francisco Centre
(at Cable Car Turnaround)
San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 227-4338
- Price Range: $$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Garage
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
174 reviews
Neighborhood: Hayes Valley
"They have everything you need here for all your artistic needs. They have an amazing selection of paper and pens, which are my two…" read more »
48 Reviews for MaiDo Stationery & Gifts
Perfect in every way. I could spend an afternoon in this store.
I love their bags and use them as clutches. Useful gift ideas and lovely paper. Oh and the countless choices of pencils! Heavenly.
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I was really disappointed when the Maido in Palo Alto closed in order for them to relocate to this location in San Francisco. And having finally visited the new location, I feel even more disappointed.
The Palo Alto shop used to have such a nice cozy feel, but the San Francisco store, in contrast, is just a standard mall storefront. It's very simple, but it's cold and in the middle of a mall, so what do you expect?
Another difference is the variety of items for sale. While this new location has a number of additional gift items available, the origami collection is much smaller, and they didn't have any large yuzen papers that I could find. Plenty of generic, non-Japanese cards as well, along with writing utensils, but it seems like the selection is not as good.
I know the Palo Alto store is long gone and isn't about to come back, but it's sad to see the replacement for it being so weak in comparison. The Santana Row store isn't quite the same either, but I'd prefer going there than to this SF location. Fortunately, it's also closer to home for me.
This is a Japanese stationery store. I sifted through a lot of not-so-masculine stuff for sure--cartoon creatures, brightly colored flower emblems and all that--but I found what I was looking for. Very classy stuff. It was a bit expensive, but it's nice to get a fresh batch.
Yeah, that's right, I write letters. You got a problem with that, punk? I didn't think so.
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It's pricey for some utensils but it's worth it. The people there have been nice to me and its not as crowded as the one in Japantown.
MaiDo is meticulously organized cuteness. It's like someone gave truckloads of speed and ecstasy to an obsessive-compulsive and just left them in a pile of Sanrio accessories and incense burners.
Tons of organized-by-color notebooks, slip covers, and neat-as-a-pin office supplies. Loads of pens (including brush pens) and markers. And some of the neatest stickers ever.
As someone who used to write letters to every living relative I had as a kid (and this before the advent of e-mail!), this place is like a Zen garden for me. And as someone who *still* hand-writes letters to their 17 year-old sister, MaiDo is a place that just makes me feel happy.
I hope my little sister appreciates all of the sticker-littered correspondence I send her. Because I plan on writing to her for many years to come. : 3
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If there was a store to revive my (former) addiction to stationary, this would be it. Because this last Saturday, I had a break down. I spent the longest time trying to decide which push pins to get. Push pins! And they were about $3 or so for a few. But there were so many choices I didn't know what to do. And I got clips, which I justified were for my cube at work - and would hold up my pictures, so I said.
And there were pens, of every color and writing size. And binders! And paper and notebooks - oh my!
They have greeting cards, and calendars, too. It partially disturbed me when I finally made it to the counter to pay for what I had. I took a pen to sign my name - and yes, for a moment there, I thought I might also buy the pen - for $35. But then I put the pen down, calmly gave the paper back to the clerk and then finally turned my back on the store and walked away.
I spent about $20 in there just on push pins and clips, a notebook and post its.
But when I got to my cube on Monday, thinking, just maybe, I got it all wrong - that I wasted my money there, I put up the push pins and the clips. And, seeing them there, I thought, they look a little lonely, there needs to be more! Plus, I printed out more pictures, just to use more, so I need more clips!
It's a vicious cycle. But at least my desk will look great thanks to MaiDo. Thanks for the inspiration. :-D
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Wonderful place to pick up stickers, stationary, office supplies, and goodies. My good friend, who lived in Japan for 2+ years, likes this place as well, but she said the prices are twice the cost compared to Japan. But we are not in Japan, so I will settle with going here to purchase the cute stuff, admire the "still cute to me" Totoro stuffed animals, squish colorful puffy stickers, and touch all the whimsical pencil cases. It's okay once in a while to buy yourself a gift. And that is what I did today. =)
The guys working there (I didn't see any girls) were nice and helpful.
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Let me start by saying that I have this thing for pens. If it's a nice pen that writes well, I will most likely by it. With that said, I must confess now that I bought a ball point pen for more than $20. You must be asking yourself, what kind of pen is this and are you FREAKING insane? Well, yes. I am sorta insane and that's what makes me so much more lovable than other people.
I must admit, I was kinda scratching my head when I looked at the pen and wondering why I just bought this pen. Well, it writes very smoothly for a ball point. Almost as smooth as my gel ink pen. And it's got a super ink tank that is pressurized so that means I can write this anywhere and in freezing conditions...Not that we will be experiencing an Arctic freeze anytime soon in San Francisco...And I can't blame my friend for making me buy this pen because she wasn't even here with me. She misplaced a shaker pencil and wanted to get another one but couldn't find her color at the Kinokuniya Stationary store. So I thought MaiDo would have it because it's almost like the other store but seems to get a little less foot traffic because everytime I pass by it's empty. Maybe a parent with a kid once in a while but dead...But yeah, I found her pencil and I thought it was a cute thing. Just shake the thing up and down once and the lead advances itself. Ingenious!
So I need to get myself checked out. I mean, what would happen if I start going into fountain pens? Then I would be screwed for life! Mont Blanc pens that I will never use! Oh the shame!!!
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Alright, I'm either going to have to rob a bank or get a second job. I have yet to be able to walk out after the first trip to the cashier. Dam them and all those cutesie little things....Hello Kitty calendars, bumble bee clips and frog erasers. You know you have to have them!!! Don't you dare punk out and cry when you leave $80 lighter. I've given you fair warning!
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Mechanical pencils shaped like pigs, erasers shaped like hamburgers, a wall of tiny magnets shaped like farm animals or ladybugs, pouches of every variety.
Come to Maido to embellish all of your bookish tendencies with twee-ness. Every gadget can have a pouch. All of your pens can have a case. Your eyeglasses, your tissues, your ipod cord. Find a cute little home for them at Maido.
Pencil pouches can be filled with pens picked from the huge pen wall that boasts the percentage of recycled content in every pen. Also find cards, calendars and wrapping paper.
After you find a home for your Ipod, make sure to ask for their frequent buyers card, and get a stamp for every $5 you spend.
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I find that my handwriting is so much neater using the super fine pens I get here... I think that they're 0.28mm.
Yeah. They're expensive... but I love those pens!
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just came here last week for the first time. ive always been at the kinokuniya but not this one. i like this place just as much too. they have a ton of different pencils and i can spend a whole day here. u wish u were japanese huh?
I stumbled upon Maido while Christmas shopping last year. They have a good selection of offbeat, silly Japanese calendars, lots of cutesy stuff, cool incense burners, etc. I love the stuffed Totoro. He was so soft, cuddly and screaming for me to take him home. As a grown up (i'd like to call myself a grown up now, even though I may not act quite like one yet), I could not bear to shell out $45 for a silly stuffed animal.
I come here from time to time to browse and check out the new stuff. It's a good place to pick up unique gifts.
MaiDo is expensive but worth it. This is more than a stationery store; for artists there's also a fair sampling of the seemingly endless array of Japanese pens, brushes, paints, and paper. It's interesting to me that along with pace-setting technology, Japanese paper arts continue strong, as seen in their high quality journals, notebooks, writing pads, specialty and art paper. This is culturally driven. The postcards and greeting card illustrations offer the softer Japanese aesthetic, with emphasis on Buddhist and Shinto imagery of the natural world as well as the floating world of human society.
I love writing implements, especially Japanese- and British-made, whose superior quality is due to values that hold the written word and its traditional accessories in high esteem. Standard office supply stores offer pens by Pentel, Uni, Zebra, Sakura and others. At MaiDo you'll see what these mass manufacturers sell to the Japanese market -- products that are quite different, more sophisticated and, yes, pinker and cuter.
Japanese pen-makers push the envelope when it comes to product design. Their ballpoint pens were among the first to feature the rubberized barrel, then barrels of larger diameter to ease the hand and shoulder while doing any kind of stylus-based writing. The fit and finish of paper and pen are a pleasure to the hand and eye, no less than beautifully designed and manufactured vehicles and machinery are to the body.
I came away from MaiDo with notebooks small and slim enough to fit inside a lady's clutch or the breast pocket of a gentleman's jacket, a pen by Uni with an ingenious clip, and a mechanical pencil in the form of a little pink pig. Do I need to tell you that it is not the little piggy's snout from which the writing lead extends? Too cute to resist.
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After my iffy experience at the Papyrus in the mall (see previous review), the woman at the register mentioned a Japanese stationary store up a few floors. Still needing calligraphy pens, my best friend and I made haste to find this place. One look at the name and the window for MaiDo and we knew we were in the right place. Instantly, I was distracted by their beautiful display of folded cranes and fancy papers on the left wall. Once I was able to pry myself away from there (after plotting to come back and by some of the paper to use as wall art), I found their writing utensil selection to be phenomenal (despite the fact that I couldn't read any of the packaging).
Besides the folding papers and writing utensils, there was also a good selection of pastel paints and paper construction glues and utensils. Once school is back in session, I'm sure you will find a lot of kids here doing their supply shopping!
I would have been happy to give the store a five just for their selection, but the folks at the counter didn't offer to help us once, let alone they didn't seem very interested in helping us once we did start the checkout process (-1 star).
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The high five because got this half price:
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
As a person, I go for the beautiful papers, original gifts and cards.
As a teacher, I go for incredibly innovative school tools that'll inspire (bribe) any kid to study hard enough to prepare Articles of Impeachment.
It's San Francisco. We learn 'em young.
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Lots o chochskys you really don't need. And I was looking for a wall calendar since the DIEUX DU STADE 2007 French Rugby Beefcake CALENDAR is completely sold out I opted for doggy pin-ups.
They have the cutest breed specific doggy calendars. Do you really need to ask which one I got?
Yeah the Dachshund one.
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Walking into Mai Do is like walking into a stationary store in Asia. They have so many cool pens, papers, cards, and stuff. I bought two very pretty birthday cards and cute stickers at the Mai Do in the Westfield shopping center in Union Square. The only down side is that it's expensive, definitely no Asia prices here.
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You know MaiDo, i know you do. You've all been to Kinokuniya Stationery at Japantown, and if you're adventurous, you've been to the MaiDo at Santana Row.
You know the pens, the big headed puppies that all the stores are obsessed with, and maybe even the stickers that you are dying to buy if only you knew what to put them on. But what you might not know is that this store vibed me different than the other stores. The other stores made me feel giddy, happy, and wanting to drop ducats, friends, ducats on everything.
It's a higher end store I suppose (location being everything) simply because I don't think either of the other locations would carry $1500 pens. Maybe they do, but not the last time I checked. Also, the workers were mad busy at either location, and the ones here were huddled in the back doing something and not really greeting or keeping an eye on us customers (no I didn't steal anything).
But if you go, you'll be sure to see something you like. I guarantee it. I'll go back to check on my impressions. I'd hate to knock a store that's given me so much in the last few years to feed my pen/paper habit.
Also, for some funny shit, check out what people write on the strips of paper. People are hi-lar-ious.
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I could spend so much money in here! I love their selection of notebooks, both with cute animals on them and without. They also have a fantastic pen selection. My cube is decked out with adorable scooter and dessert magnets that I bought here. Their greeting cards are super cute, but pretty heavily decorated and seem more fitted to in-person presentation, rather than the mail. This is by far my favorite store in this entire mall.
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As an affiliated store of Kinokuniya Stationary, it's quite an untapped gem in the SF mall. The brush pens and exclusive pens and high quality pencils imported from Japan are highly coveted among artists. Japan knows the worth of a high quality pen and pencil, and there's no better place than these two stores. Being new-ish, in the mall, and without the inherent following its counterpart has enjoyed for years, it's lacking the more desirable prices and a few items which can only be found in the Japantown store. Never the less, it's one of the only places that sells blank chop stones, woodcut materials, refillable brush pens, and the Pilot Hi-Tec's I've come to love so much in one place.
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Oh my. My, oh my oh my. I happened upon MaiDo while my son's preschool was closed for a day and we went to ride the many (many!) escalators at Westfield Centre. I got him all the way upstairs and was drawn inexorably toward the MaiDo window displays.
The store is beautifully arranged and features display after display of mouth-watering stationery, pens, office supplies, color coded animal-shaped index tab labels, and gorgeous papers and inks, and countless other temptations. I made it out of the store for under $100, but just barely, and just because shopping with a 4-year-old boy -- even one as obsessed by rainbow-colored notebooks as his Mom -- is really just a series of four-minute purchasing windows.
I will make the trip into the city from Marin to go back to this store; I didn't see, but would like to look more closely for, something like the lovely lucite stamps and single-color ink pads that I found while visiting Japan for work 10 years ago. If they were in any store on this side of the world, it would be MaiDo.
There is a Maido in the San Francisco Shopping Centre. Yay! I love the version of this store in Palo Alto and shed many tears when they closed. Where will I find my cutesy Japanese toys and paper? This version isn't as cute as the Palo Alto store and has more refined Americanized stationery. Or maybe paper for the Japanese grown up. There are nice classic postcards and sheets of paper as well as some cute notebooks and boxes. The cutesy section is small and standard, not as many cool characters.
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Oh, yeah. Gimme stationary with matching stickers, office gizmos that I can't read the instructions of, and pens of all Japanese makes, models, colors... Oh, yeah, that's the ticket.
I've been to the one in J-town and loved it, but rarely do I make it to that part of the City... remember, Mom with two kids??? So, it was a fantastic surprise to find this gem on the top floor of the new Westfield, uh, mall? (that sort of degrades it... it's better than a mall, but what do you call it???) (and could I have more question marks in this review???)
So, what did I buy... super duper gel pens that have raised ink and can write on surfaces other than paper... a super strong magnet bar for the fridge... some funky, colorful paper clip type thingies... a half size fountain pen in a dark green color and the refill cartridges... a journal for writing my Gratitudes and Vision (anyone out there reading "The Secret"???) Good thing tomorrow is payday... Let's just say this stuff is more expensive in Japan :)
So, now what do you do??? Go to Maido and buy cool, fun, Japanese stuff and write some letters!!!
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This Kinokuniya Stationary twin offers the same types of beautiful Japanese Papers, weird little pens and erasers, and pads of paper with adorable big-headed cartoon creatures on them.
The cards were fabulous, and I just happened to need one for my niece's birthday. I bought one that had a beautiful letterpress cupcake on it and said in a pretty delicate pink cursive, "Happy Birthday with Sprinkles on Top!"
Talk about expensive! It cost $8.00...plus tax.
Happy F%#ing Birthday, niece...cus that's ALL you be gettin'.
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I recall Maido (in the old Palo Alto location) being one of the very first things I found through Yelp. I immediately fell in love with the store and I was definitely devestated when I learned that they were closing (I mean, where else was I going to purchase my Monokuro Boo desk calendars?!). I looked forward to visiting the San Francisco location for months and it finally happened a few weeks ago.
I was disappointed. The San Francisco store is much smaller than their old store in Palo Alto. The space was cramped and the selection was lacking. However, it was nice to see the familiar faces: the people that ran the Palo Alto location are now running in San Francisco.
I sooo miss the old Palo Alto location. :(
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I lost track of time at Maido. I passed by all the aisles and found countless of wrapping paper, notebooks, stationary, pens, cards, San-x characters and Totoro's that I wanted to take home.
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I went here on a whim looking for a wedding shower card that I needed rather than opting for Walgreens or Papyrus, and I found one! I really thought the shop was cute, and it really reminded me of that Kinokuniya store next to Sophie's Crepes ... same setup and everything.
I probably should have said "yes" when the cashier asked me if I wanted a frequent buyer's card. Now to go back in there and beg for one makes me look quite the fool ...
Hey, I have to support my peeps, right?
Upscale stationery is a concept as anachronistic to me as orange cappuccino coffee, but I have to give this place credit for having anything you could possibly want in the world of paper. They also have those calendars with the fish-eye shots of puppies, and more importantly, the most extensive collection of miniaturized sushi refrigerator magnets I have ever seen. Who doesn't want a piece of faux-hamaichi nigiri smaller than a valium?
Some of the office supplies seem to come from the Frank Gehry school of WTF functionality, but they sure look cool. And I'm so glad Little Kitty has survived Japan's lingering economic stagnation with its pert pinkness intact. I looked at the prices for the greeting cards and glorious wrapping paper, and I think I'll have to reassess the depth of my friendships before considering any future investments.
But the store looks very nice and quite compatible with the rest of the luxuriant Westfield Shopping Centre (ah yes, the British spelling of course). And let's face it, when you buy incidental products like these, it's often better to look good than to feel like you got a bargain. If that's important to you, I know there's a lovely selection of greeting cards at Walgreen's down the block.
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Everytime I come to the shopping center, I look for Maido but I never find it! It wasn't somewhere that I HAD TO GO TO, so I never looked at the directory but today I FOUND IT! haha... The store was filled with a bunch of cute things, it was like a smaller Kinokuniya with the pens and folders and all the cutesy other things. I got some cards today and when I was ready to check out but the sales people were busy talking amongst themselves so I had to wait for service. but... now I know where it is! yay!
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They have B5 Paper! I absolutely love B5 Paper! it's the perfect size, not too small, not too big.
They also have all kinds of unique office supplies which I'm sure I will be buying sometime in the near future.
Don't forget to get your card stamped! For every hundred bucks you spend, you get a $5 dollar store credit... which isn't much, but it's better than nothin'!
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I can spend hours in this store! In high school, i was the girl who had the best pens cuz most of my pens came from this store. I love writing utensils, unique note books..mann.this place had it all. And everytime i wrote with a MaiDo pen, my handwriting was so neat! This place is pricey, but neat handwriting is priceless.
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I love this place! They have the coolest, most functional pens imaginable, and their folders, notebooks, and other office supplies clearly rival those available commonly in the US. These Japanese imports are very cool but very expensive.
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Ridiculously cute and fun stationary story. They have cards, notebooks, notecards, pens, pencils, calligraphy and ink supplies, stationary cases, pencil bags and boxes, etc. I now understand where some of my Asian classmates got their really cute stationary items.
That said, I don't really like going into the store. Sure it's handy and fun to look at if you like stationary. What I don't understand is that it honestly wouldn't kill any of the employees to acknowledge you. I haven't bought anything from them, and I suspect that I'd have to in order to get them to say hello to me.
First time I went in there, a female employee was sitting at the counter, talking with someone who was sitting on the floor. (I think it was her boyfriend.) She looked up to see if I had anything I wanted to buy and then continued to talk to her playdate. The second time I went in, there were several employees restocking/reorganizing, but they were too engrossed in their work or in their own personal conversations to even look in my direction.
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I second Charlotte S. This is a stationery junkie's dream! They have all the same stuff you find at Kinokuniya but in a closer location to work! The only downside about this store is that they tend to stock higher end merchandise. $28 for a little pouch made of japanese fabric? I don't think so.
Oh yeah, their eraser collection is to die for (sushi & ice cream erasers!).
There's also a limited selection of washi and origami paper. They also have a lot of neat-o gel pens! Gotta love their craft glue (it can seal anything! Paper, wood, fabric etc) for $2.50!
They accept the Kinokuniya frequent buyers card here.
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It's browse worthy, as they sell cute, but expensive paper products. It's similar to Kinokuniya Stationary in Japantown. And you're better off going there instead; you can drop by Ichiban Kan and find some of the same items from Maido (e.g., organizers) for only $1.
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Lovely, lovely things here...but I must say: MORE COWBELL...I mean, MORE CELL PHONE CHARMS!! I got a fever, and the only prescription is more Japanese cell phone charms. You can use me in your nature vs. nurture case study because just by having Japanese blood, I'm nuts about putting cute dangly things on my cell phone. Kinokuniya Stationery has this place beat in the cell phone accessory department. Don't make me go all the way to Japantown to get more useless little trinkets that I lose every few months.
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Another place to feed my pen addiction. I wanted to look at the pens in the glass case , but the sales staff just ignored me.. So minus one star for that.
Either way, it's a nice store to drop in and browse. Just don't ask to look at the pens in the glass case... ha.. ha..
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This store plus the ones on Santana Row and Japan Town are great! I have happily spent way too much money on a plethora of calendars, pens, papers, organizers, etc. that perhaps I don't always need. It's quality stuff and browsing is 90% of the fun. I was dissapointed though that they closed their Palo Alto store.
Wow - my eyes blurred and I became woozy at the sight of so many cut pens in 1 million colors, and enough plastic folders with so many combinations you'll be slapped into complete organization. I found a business card organizer that replaces a discontinued model I used to buy at Flax.
Great customer service and love all the cute gifty things, including the fabric gift wrap.
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