Ampersand Emporium

I visited the Columbus College of Art and Design [CCAD] Supply Store for my second time on 12-14-2023.

The first time when I had visited that store had been sometime between 1979 and 2000 when I had worked in the Commercial Art Department of the now-former Long's Book Store near The Ohio State University.

Long's Commercial Art had sold art supplies to a wide variety of customers including CCAD students.

Some of those CCAD students would regularly tell me that the prices at Long's were cheaper than the prices at the CCAD Supply Store. I eventually decided to visit the CCAD Supply Store -- please remember that this had been sometime between 1979 and 2000 -- to compare prices.

The prices of the approximately ten items that I had directly compared had been nearly the same.

The CCAD Supply Store, back then, had been "counter service only" which had meant that you would request all of your items at a counter; your items would then be brought to you at that counter.

Long's Commercial Art, by comparison, had offered a "retail" environment where the customers could directly look at and select items that had been on display on shelves.

In 2020, the CCAD Supply Store merged with Ampersand Emporium [on the first floor of the Design Square Apartments building at 91 Cleveland Ave.] and now has a "retail" environment [even though I am certain that some of their larger merchandise is stored in the back and is brought out to the customer upon request].

I am sad to report that Prismacolor pencils are no longer 52¢ each but I must add here that I have not seen a Prismacolor pencil for about 25 years.