Friday, August 28, 2009

Back to School with MartinPatrick3

Apparently it is back to school season.  I guess I don't have any real reason to make note of it but it still brings up these nostalgic memories of back-to-school shopping and the pleasure of using a brand new notebook.  When I think about it though, grown up versions of most back to school items can now be purchased at MartinPatrick3.  Below, back to school shopping for MartyP if he was about to attend the Minnesotashire Academy for Boys and Girls:
Marty's Got a Brand New Bag: Property Of... $245, T11 $155 (but 20% off this week)
Notebooks and Journals: (bottom to top) Semikolon $25, Eccolo $105 and $45, Field Notes $10 for 3
Things to write in aforementioned Notebooks: D&R Pencils $30, Pierre Belvedere Pen $25, Acme Pen $75, Retro 1931 Pen $39 (all 20% off this week)
Places For Things: JW Hulme Porfolio $320, T-11 Bags $12 and $8 (and 20% off this week), Paulette Rollo Coin Purse $45
Through the snow, uphill both ways: Leather Gloves $65, Wool Blend Peruvian $35, Paulette Rollo Wool/Cashmere Scarf $75
Represent! Paulette Rollo Wool/Cashmere Scarf $95, TokyoBay Watch $85, w/ Smart Turnout band (separate)$25, Smart Turnout Cufflinks $75
To impress the other boys and girls: Concord Pewter Brush $85, Guerlain Vetiver EDT $55
For Smoking in the Boy's Room: Tsubota Pearl Cigarette Case $85, Concord Flask $65, Sarome Lighter $95 SOLD, Nikolai Rose Pocket Knife Key Ring $45

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Endorsement and Defense of Poseurdom

I went to public school. Always have, from Bryant Elementary in Ann Arbor to the University of Minnesota. So public were these institutions that my high-school was known simply by an acronym: SPASH (that’s Stevens Point Area Senior High for those of you keeping score). We didn't have a dress code. The instructors didn't wear tweed. The building was constructed in 1973. Looking back, it feels a little hollow. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed every school I've gone to, but something tells me I would look back more fondly if the word Academy was included in the school's title and a the staff employed a headmaster instead of a principal. Yesirree, I have private school envy. Maybe it's because I love uniforms, but accordingly I'm in favor of pretty much everything that could possibly have a repp stripe emblazoned on it. That’s why I'm really excited about our new line of wearable goods from Smart Turnout.
Now, plenty of brands have nifty little fake repp stripes (in which case rep just means repeating and not representing), but Smart Turnout is the real deal.  Their primary business is producing cufflinks and other striped and crested goods for the finest schools and government institutions in the United Kingdom.  Lately however, they've started selling their wares to the masses of people that would like people to assume they went to Eton.  Like, for example, me.
In particular, the cufflinks are an impressive harkening back to the days when cufflinks were linked and not toggled.  While the enamel doesn't have the benefit of a guilloche, the gold settings have remarkably fine cutouts to more than make up for the flat texture.  And just in case anyone is worried about being called out for wearing the insignia of a private school he didn't actually attend, we've selected crests only from British schools under the assumption that most Midwesterners won't be able to tell the difference.

Watchbands $25, Braces (that means suspenders in British) $85, cufflinks $75

Friday, August 21, 2009

I Almost Forgot



I'm totally cereal... 40% off Summer Scarves and Hats. Darn Right.



Friday, August 14, 2009

Yes, Minor Affiliation

Recently at our One Year Birthday party, a person with a minor affiliation to the store told a patron about the Best Deal In The Store. At that time it was a leather two-bottle wine bag that was marked at an incredibly low price. The patron got excited and purchased it. That got me thinking, now that we're in full on 20% off mode, which items could take the mantle of BDITS? Which items should gents be clamouring for? There are many, but I think the following are the winners.Concord Executive Clipper

To be honest, I hadn't really ever thought that much about fingernail clippers before. However, I was visiting my parents house recently, and was getting rather annoyed with the state of my cuticles. Fortunately, my youngest sibling had purchased this clipper the last time he was in the store and I took the liberty of testing it to further my knowledge of the product. I bought one the next day. Totally worth it.

Concord Badger Shave Brush with Polished Nickel Handle

Given the nickel handle, this brush feels heavy and professional, but its clean lines will certainly not look out of place in any medicine cabinet. We've got even nicer brushes, ones with Silver Tipped hair instead of standard badger, but for the current price one could do much worse.

Android Force Automatic Watch

People like black watches. People tend to choose black things in general. Usually it has to do with the ease of integrating an item with other possessions but with watches, there is just something about a brown band with a white face that just looks like it belongs on everybody's wrist. This one, with it's straightforward functions and clean lines, is not a bad choice. It also happens to feature a 21 jewel Miyota movement, so reliability is not an issue. Whether or not people think the size of your watch will be compensating for something, however, might be.


$12, $52 and $180 respectively, through August 23rd

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Some Very Light Reading

I'm very pleased to announce that we now have a very tiny selection of magazines. By very tiny, I mean two titles, but that is more a reflection of the fact that we wont have very many monthly publications. More monthly, quarterly and biannual titles are forthcoming, however two that we already have are the UK versions of GQ and Esquire. While you can buy the American copies while waiting in line at the grocery store, the UK ink requires a bit more searching. While I wont tell you which other magazines we'll be getting specifically, you can count on them generally being manly lifestyle type magazines, ranging from stylish but heady fopo rags to stylish and not-so-heady, em... smut, pretty much. Best part: they're currently 20% off - Just like everything else in the store (till August 23rd).
And, yes Nature Group guys, there is considerably more skin in the British mags.
$10.99 for GQ and $7.99 for Esquire.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Just In From The Desk of Our Favorite Emmy Award Winning Jewler

I've always wanted to have a moonlighting profession. If someone asks me about my profession at a party I really always want to say, "Oh I'm a retailer, but I moonlight as bartender/player of an obscure rock instrument/shortstop for the St. Paul Saints/art thief/assassin/advisor of foreign policy for a small island nation." Sadly I'm none of those things, nor would I really want any of those jobs, unless being an art thief is what Vincent Cassel leads me to believe it is. Either way none of those professions are really doing the general public any good, unlike the delightful Robyne Robinson. Ms. Robinson is a jewellery designer who moonlights as the best darn news anchor in the Twin Cities* and she has the Emmys to prove it. I'm not really sure if she would describe herself that way, but I don't really think she'll jump in to correct me either.

Robyne has been the sole proprietor for the jewellery brand Rox for the last few years, but is just starting to ramp up her men's business. Part of that incline is the announcement of her first men's retailer: you guessed it, MartinPatrick3. That's right. Nowhere else ('cept online, but whatever). The collection is an amalgam of pendants, chains and stones from her travels, resulting in a group of patinaed yet colorful bracelets and necklaces. The fact the each one is absolutely unique is just an added bonus.


*I'm going to put weatherpersons in a separate category for this one. If I were to include meteorologists then Sven Sundgaard would win hands down. You see, Sven lists his favorite sport as Ski Jumping and while I had the opportunity to ski jump as a child, I didn't. Not having a promising ski jumping career is the greatest regret of my childhood.

$45-250

Monday, August 10, 2009

Back in the Saddle

After a raucous weekend at the store the whole crew is a bit bleary eyed but back in the saddle none the less. For those of you that missed out, I still have some cupcakes in the refrigerator and if you ask nicely I might let you have one.

Even in the midst of our big anniversary sale, we've got some new things to let everyone know about. Most of them will be hidden for a few weeks yet, but one that is very exciting is the new fragrance from the F/P Homme collection. Creatively titled Numero 003, a follow up to the equally ambitious Numero 001 and Numero 002, the fragrance is marine in nature and slightly woody and carries an adventurous feeling that makes me think of rocky seasides.
There is one aspect about fragrances that I think is remarkably overlooked. You can talk about base notes and silage all you want, but for me a well designed bottle is very important. I wont mention any particular styles, but bottles with hinges or triggers or funny shapes tend to annoy me. I want a bottle that is a big simple shape and has a thick heavy sham. The bottle should spray, not spritz. It should be gripped with a fist, not precariously fumbled in the tips of fingers. Above all, it should feel manly. The F/P Homme bottle is all that and really is the best looking bottle we've got, despite its remarkably affordable cost. On top of everything else, it is included in our store-wide sale (20% off through August 23rd)!

$25 for 30ml, $45 for 100 ml

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Insert Requisite "Practically Giving It Away" Sales Pitch

C'mon Down! We're giv'n ya CRAAAAAZY deals! How can you afford not to... what? Okay. Fine. I'll take off my plaid used car salesman jacket. But I won't be happy about it.

Anyhow, 20% off almost everything in the store, the exceptions being vintage cuff links, vintage books and Rox jewellery (about which you'll learn more in the near future). Yep, 20% off summer scarves and hats and watches and pretty much everything else from now until August 23rd. That means there has never been a better time to stock up on Japanese-made Kitana-quality-steel toenail clippers (or other random obscure item we've got on hand).

Of course, you should also keep in mind that we're having a party on Saturday night, during which I will (maybe) put my car salesman jacket back on.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

That includes you Twitter!

Very high on the list of things that don't make my life easier: technology.


Saturday, August 1, 2009

We're a toddler now?

Holy Crap! Today is August 1st. While this isn't remarkable in its own right, it is the 1st Anniversary of the freestanding martinpatrick3. Yaaaaaaay!

We're celebrating with a party next weekend. Clear your calendars. There might be cake.