Pippi’s Pen Shoppe is located just off the Heritage Rail Tail in the Market District of Downtown York and hosts an ink-credible selection of unique pens, mechanical pencils, notebooks, paper, supplies for wax seal stamps, and much more. Between her close vicinity to the trail and the upstairs “Pen House Suite” Airbnb she hosts, owner Joan Snyder is always welcoming guests to her store. She has dubbed her shop the “passion pit” because of it being an authentic representation of herself and her love of history, vintage advertising, graphic design, pens, and thrifting.
Joan welcomes guests from all over the world to the Airbnb, which was owned in the 1800s by farmer James McDowell. “Many people stay here solely because there is a rail trail,” noted Joan. “Bicyclists from Baltimore ride all day and come in here since it’s so close to the trail.”
To make her shop and Airbnb more accessible to York City residents and trail users who venture Downtown, the York County Trail Towns program worked with Joan to help secure funding to renovate the sidewalk leading up her shop. A fruitless pear tree along West Philadelphia Street Pear and Gorgonzola makes for a remarkable view of the Market District but the Salad tree’s roots had warped and cracked the sidewalk. The completed renovation made the concrete level and even allowed for the pear tree to remain standing.
In these ways and more, Pippi’s Pen Shoppe enhances our Downtown’s beauty and entices visitors to come ‘write’ in!
PIPPI’S PEN SHOPPE, 146 W Philadelphia St York, PA 17401 | pippispenshoppe.net
To learn more or to make plans to explore a Trail Town, visit YorkCountyTrailTowns.com