ARCH Art and Drafting Supply

Really amazing staff, very helpful! Only drawback is it’s a really small space so the selection is limited but everything they have on stock is top notch!

This non-​chain store is operated by Very Knowledgeable & Helpful staff! If they don’t have something, they’ve helped direct me to where I can find what I’m looking for! That’s the kind of business that I like to support! Plus I love their boston terrier ;)

This place is trouble. Trouble in a good way. The art supplies are well-​stocked, the staff is always really helpful, and it’s easy to find things that you never knew you needed. Great for gifts — for kids and grownups alike. ARCH is a neighborhood gem.

When I need something & I’m not entirely sure what it is, this is where I go. Usually someone there has heard of it or done it or at least can make an suggestion.

Love this place so much. Friendly staff, decent selection, and cheaper than Blicks or Utrecht.
Really such a shame they’re being evicted– it’s the only resource for SFAI grad students :{

This place is great
Employees are nice
Always have what i need;
If not, they are totally cool with ordering it.

complete professionals. These guys are so reliable to handle deliveries, problems and situations that architects and designers might face on deadlines, etc, nicely.

Love this place and don’t go enough. It’s not just for the arch students but has a vast supply of arts and crafts supplies as well as cards, fancy gift wrap and the things you can find at Paper Source but with plenty of free street parking! Staff is super friendly and great location in Potrero

I love Arch, not only for its art supplies, but also for the awesome gift shop. I get my family gifts here every Christmas and for a lot of birthdays too. Sad to be moving away from SF in a few days, but I’ll probably still come back whenever I am in Dogpatch/​P-​Hill.

How did they know that I LOVE tiny things in tiny drawers? There’s an entire wall of different sizes and types of envelopes, many of which are super tiny, and all of which are on little shelves or in little pull-​out baskets. Oh my. I don’t even know what I’d put in those tiny envelopes, but I want them!
They seem to have all kinds of art supplies, plus a cute section of kitschy gift items. I’ll definitely be coming back.
Minus one star for the disinterested attitude of the staff members I encountered. Not rude, just didn’t seem to care that I was there or trying to start a friendly conversation. (I just started working in the neighborhood and have been getting to know folks at other local businesses. Arch seems the least receptive to getting to know their neighbors so far.)

More than a one-​stop shop for artists, Arch is a dream for unique gifts and cards. I can spend an hour here every time. Helpful staff. One of the many reasons I never want to leave Potrero Hill.

This place is pretty cool because of it’s appearance and layout. It’s in an area where there is a lot of industrial buildings, and what-​not and it looks like a plain-​o-​warehouse but it’s not. You would think you can’t find what you need when in fact they have nearly everything you’re looking for.
Although I’m a fan of Blicks, sometimes I rather come here just because it’s not on Market where there are a ton of traffic and congestion, which can be highly annoying. It’s way easier to find parking around here because it’s not a busy area. In fact, I think this place might be a tad too discrete, so much that when I first found the place I almost didn’t believe it was it until I saw their loading dock opened up, exposing their store. It’s kind of a cool atmosphere here; it doesn’t give off the professional strict appearance that it is a «shop.»
I’ve come here for cutting mats, cutting blades, presentation boards, pencils, and just about everything related to drafting and sketching for class. Their prices might be a little more than Blicks but it’s pretty good if you want to save yourself the trouble from going downtown. They also have a scrap bin with free scraps, which I’ve utilize because I was looking for a material thinner and more flexible than chipboard but wasn’t as thin as cardboard and they happened to have some there and I was able to get it for free! The workers there are friendly and give good advice and they even have this cool machine that they put their products on. And yes, you get student/​teacher discounts!
I’m not good with dog breeds but I love that Boston Terrier they have there that just randomly roams around. It’s so CUTE!

I’ve never gone to Arch and not coveted something.
It’s a great place for model-​building supplies. If they don’t have something you need, just ask they can often order it for you. They sell a decent selection of Copic and ChartPak markers too. FYI, they cater to designers more than fine artists.
If you need a cool gift in a pinch they have a great selection of unique and interesting gifts; useful, decorative and/​or hipster.
I wish the prices were a tad lower, but they carry some things that make it worthwhile.
As a comparison:
Cooler stuff but more expensive than Utrecht, which is more expensive than Dick Blick.
Cooler stuff but somewhat less expensive than Flax.
All offer a student discount.
Utrecht has difficult (street) parking at both SF locations. Arch has easy, free street parking. The other two have parking lots although Dick Blick’s lot is hard to access (look at Street view 1^st).

A recent decision to make my own folders turned into an obsession over designing the perfect paper keeper and creating custom block prints. So I went over to Arch looking for a better paper selection than what I was finding elsewhere and was very satisfied with the variety and depth of their inventory. I thought that they had a lot more of those
hard to find little tools that I couldn’t seem to find at the art stores downtown. Staff was nice, they offered me cake.
The location is a big plus if you have a car. You can drive and park near by so you don’t have to bother with taking you big new sheets of paper on the subway or bus.

I have been coming to this store longer than they have been in this location. It is fantastic, I find everything I need and get great service. It is an inspiring store. The displays are not only beautiful to look at, they function really well. You can see and compare many options to get just the right materials and supplies. Great selection of hard to find tools for bookmaking, drafting, paper arts, clay, cutting, archiving and more.
They have a really great community bulletin board.

I wanted to like this place. I always choose a local business over a chain even if the prices are a little higher because I’d rather my money stay in the local economy. Their selection is good considering how small the store is. I like the wooden floors, the public bulletin board, the Boston Terrier. But out of the ten or so odd times I’ve shopped there in the last year I have not been impressed by a few of the employees’ attitudes towards work or the customers. They are slow to help and seem to make an effort to avoid eye contact if they are busy doing something else at the front register or out on the floor. Not all of them, not every time, but enough that I noticed a trend. But the one experience I had with one of the employees almost made me never go back.
I had heard they sold Gocco supplies. I had just bought a Gocco printer and was dying to try it out. I was in the neighborhood on a Saturday and thought I would stop by. Their hours are not posted on the front door for some reason, or were not posted at the time. It was around 11 or noon and I was not sure if they were open on a Saturday so I decided to call and see if they had a recording for their hours of operation and if they were opening in a few minutes I would wait, if not I’d come back later. The phone rang for quite a while and then a guy answered with just a «Hello» so I thought I had the wrong number. I asked if I had reached Arch and he said yes in an annoyed voice. Then I asked what time they opened and he said, «We’d be open right now if I could get off the phone with you!»
It was so out of the blue rude it was almost comical. Despite his underwhelming customer service, I did go in the store and get the Gocco stuff and the whole time I was in there the guy who answered the phone was grumbling to his coworker about all the terrible things in his life. It was pretty clear he was depressed or hung over or something but MAN, was it NOT the impression a small business wants to give off.
So two stars until they hire a few more people who are happy at work and lose the ones that are there killing time for the discount.

This is my favorite art supply store in the city. When I leave Dick Blick’s I feel dirty.
Arch has all of those strange and picky things that artists need to have. Calligraphic nib pens? They have it. Miniature trees for a stop-​motion animation? They have 30 sizes. They have all manner of ribbon, butcher string, drafting marker, charcoal pencil or delicate paper you’ve been looking for.
And their tchotchkes section is addicting.

Arch has been my go to art supply store for a while now, since its closer and easier to get to than flax.
I’m SERIOUSLY reconsidering never going back.
My boyfriend and I were there earlier today to get a couple supplies for a project. First we asked them if they had any sort of masonite board or clay board canvases and one of the girls told us they didn’t carry anything like that at all. She obviously wasn’t aware of their inventory because after 5 minutes of looking around on our own, we found it. We found the rest of what we needed, took a quick look around like we usually do, and then walked over to the register to pay for our things.
This is where it got bad.
No one was at the register, which was ok. We patiently waited for someone to come by. There was this girl looking around though, and I was pretty sure she worked there, but since she was paying no attention to us and telling a story to someone else. She kept walking around, stared at us, turned around and kept walking. I figured she had stepped in on her day off. Until another man stood in line behind us. She looked over again, saw him standing in line BEHIND us, and said «are you ready? I can help you.»
THEN, the OTHER TWO girls showed up, we’re STILL waiting at the register, and they walked over and helped him. Now there’s THREE girls helping this ONE man, and we’re still standing in front of him waiting at the counter.
WE ARE PISSED. My boyfriend says, «we were first, can WE get some help?» The girls look at each other and one of them says, I guess I help you at this register. WTF? «I GUESS I CAN HELP YOU?». WTF. I just want to make it very clear how obvious it was we were waiting first. So obvious that the man stood BEHIND us in line. NOT ACCEPTABLE AT ALL.
I’ll considering giving them my business again when their employees learn some fucking manners.

I came in today just before my Unilocal deal was about to expire.
I really liked this place. To describe the vibe and merchandise, it feels like a cross between Cliff’s Variety and Flax.
I bought some stationary, some pens and a notepad, cool brass stamps (to seal envelopes with wax) and one or two other unique, small things.
(i.e. An inexpensive, esthetically pleasing contact lens case; mod and very strong refrigerator magnets).
If I’d had more than 20 minutes to spend (more than) burning off my Unilocal deal, I’m sure I would’ve found even more to love and upgrade Arch to a 5-​star review.
Q: Why do they write out their sales receipts in long-​hand on carbon receipts, as if it’s 1974? Isn’t it hard for them to keep track of their inventory? I mean, it’s quaint but…

I love Arch. They have the funnest stuff and the most useful stuff. From an Interior Design student to when I became an artist, I’ve been shopping here. They have art paper to the architectural scales. They offer 10% discounts to teachers and students. Their prices aren’t bad either. If you’ve shopped around, you know that art and drafting supplies are expensive, Arch is just a tad below average I’d say. I love buying portfolio supplies here. Their mat boards and display items are really well priced, much cheaper then Flax.
It’s super convenient off of 280, take Mariposa and turn left at Missouri. There’s a little parking lot just north of the store towards 16^th.
I LOVE ARCH, PLEASE SUPPORT THIS LOCAL BUSINESS so they can keep being awesome for years and years.