It’s been seven years since Sarah Holmes took the risk of fulfilling a childhood dream to open a stationery shop.
Pencil Me In moved to Elgin in seven years ago, 18 months after its story began in Manchester.
Since then Sarah and her shop have written history and are continuing to grow following the opening of her homeware and gifts shop in April, named Seasgair store.
Award-winning store and customers
Pencil Me In has been named Elgin’s favourite shop three times in the Elgin BID awards.
Sarah also won the 2022 Moray Business Women award for established business of the year.
She said: “People only see part of this business, but there’s a lot going on.
“We have a hot foil printing press and make our own custom pencils. The pencil bar also creates sets.
“We actually sell and print pencils for business all over the UK.
“Last year alone we printed over 42,000 pencils.
“We’ve done things for the Royal Academy of Arts in London and are even completing an order for the UK Parliament gift shop at the moment.”
Sarah said that the Batchen Street store’s success has found Oscar winning actress Tilda Swinton visiting the store.
She continued: “We opened a pop-up shop in Inverness Airport, and that’s how Tilda found us.
“She still shops with us now, which is exciting!”
Drawing up a plan for Pencil Me In
Sarah said she opened the award-winning shop due to her “total obsession with stationery”.
The business, which began in 2014, was a “childhood dream”.
She said: “I had another job when we started out, so I employed someone else and then did the Saturday shift myself.
“I spent my lunch breaks going to the post office to send off deliveries!
“It gave us a stepping stone to connect with designers and publishers, many of who we still work with.
“We work with small business owners, teams of one or two.
“That connection is really important to me.
“When we viewed Batchen Street in Elgin, there were several empty units on the street. It was a bit of a gamble taking on a premises here at the time.”
Achievements and future plans
Sarah said that her biggest achievements involved the company’s growth during Covid.
She continued: “2020/21 were really difficult years to get through.
“We didn’t just survive, we actually grew through them and came out the other side better off.
“Our 2021 turnover was double that of 2019. It was a lot to take on.
“Giving employment to people is a mark of success and having such an amazing team has made life easier really.
“I’ve managed to be on maternity leave twice since opening and that being able to happen just makes me feel lucky.”
Pencil Me In has grown an online following with over 12,500 followers on Instagram.
The business will take part in a London trade show called Top Drawer this September.
