Merion Art and Repro Center

I have used their framing specialists multiple times, always with great results.
Ignore the petty comment about the selfish guy wanting to bring his dog into a public store.

The reproduction department is apparently closed on Saturdays. Number one that’s inconvenient and unfortunate. Okay well that’s how it is so that’s fine, but I feel so frustrated that the store manager — Heather (who she said she was on the telephone) said that she didn’t know anything about the reproduction department. I asked if any information was available on the website I didn’t need pricing or any specifics but generally needed to know what large sizes they could reproduce. She said the website is not working. I’m willing to wait until Monday, if this place can do it, it’s convenient and I have used them over the years for digital reproduction services successfully, but not with any reproduction this large that’s not flexible. It’s a canvas 30×22. There are other places that are open today — but again willing to wait till Monday I just wanted to know if I was wasting my time or they could do something that size. I’m just surprised she wouldn’t know anything about the sizes since the place is called Merion Art and Repro not Merion Art! And I have to add that she was not terribly nice either. Nobody’s got time for condescending.

Fabulous store – amazing supplies, nicely displayed and including many choices. Prices all clearly indicated. BUT the staff makes the store – they know what they’re doing, they are enthusiastic about art and artists, and they are eager to help. They won’t rush you – it’s a lovely place to browse.

A terrific art store close to home stocked with all the art supplies you can think of and even a few you can’t. One day a few years ago, I needed to buy an illustration board for a school art project. Neither A.C. Moore nor Michaels carried this item, so I headed off to Merion to buy my board. I found it, and they were even nice enough to cut it down to the size I specified. The salesperson who waited on me was rather haughty, I thought. When she asked how I wanted the board cut, and I indicated right down the middle, she rolled her eyes a little and said, «Oh, in half?» implying that I should have phrased my request that way. That’s the Main Line for you, but hey, this is a great store, so no hating here!

Would love to give this place a good review, especially since I’ll be making a lot of art in the area and needed supplies but they are not dog friendly and wouldn’t let me enter.

Have only had custom framing done here. For this they are MARVELOUS! Amazing quality, price and courtesy!

Kid in a candy store is how I felt in this art store. They have so many different art supplies to pick from, and I enjoyed the fact that it is obviously a local business rather than a huge chain. The staff was very helpful, especially since we didn’t come with an agenda in mind as to what we wanted. My 8-​yr old daughter and I have been visiting family in the area and had extra time which we decided to dedicate to art projects. We went into the Merion Art and Repro Center to see what we wanted to try. I’m a fairly good artist, but I don’t focus on one particular type of art and therefore, I don’t know anything about some of the fancier supplies. We got a variety of supplies for colored pencils, pastels and supplies for Zentangled (for me, which I’d never heard of but am now really interested in). The staff didn’t push us to buy anything, and only offered advice when we asked about specific things (for example, the best things to get started with Zentangled art).
I ended up going back for some of the fancier pens to color in areas of my Zentangled art. The staff helped me pick out some of the colors from various brands.
I wish this store was in my area since I may be left with slim pickings when we travel back home. I highly recommend this art store. It beats Michael’s by a mile!

This is a great local business which employs many helpful and knowledgable art students. It is a medium-​sized store, but they can order all sorts of supplies for you. They do come out with coupons and they promote local artists.

I made a resolution to get back into drawing and painting after a decade-​long hiatus, so I needed to stock up on some supplies. Admittedly, I was a little intimidated going into a *real* art supply store. I know employees of shops seemingly targeted at a more trained, professional, serious crowd sometimes look down their noses at beginners or people who pursue *insert craft/​trade/​activity here* informally, as a hobby. Fortunately, my fears ended up being totally baseless.
Merion Art is fairly small, packed to the brims with art supplies of all varieties, yet somehow unproblematic to navigate. I found the watercolor section almost immediately and, after being initially overwhelmed by the sheer variety of offerings, got to business perusing the shelves. I was relieved to see that there were paints and brushes within my budget, though I also saw they had more expensive wares for those who are more experienced at this stuff than I am (or simply have more cash to drop).
The one con of my experience is that it took a while for an employee to say «hi» or ask me if I needed help, even though there were at least two within visual range the entire time. However, once I was acknowledged by one of the employees (about 5 minutes later), my experience couldn’t have been better. I explained that I was in the process of resurrecting a long dead hobby and was a bit overwhelmed with choosing supplies to get started. Without any ounce of judgement and no trace of a sneer at me being a noob, the employee asked what I was looking to paint and showed me a variety of basic, inexpensive supplies, explaining the different brushes to me and how they might be useful for my project. I was glad he gave me guided, helpful options without trying to push an exact product or something more expensive on me.
Also, the student discount was cool.
An aside: I didn’t explore much of the rest of the store, but I did notice they had a number of supplies that would be good for kids — like those Crayola-​style watercolors in the plastic containers.
I look forward to returning to Merion Art & Repro, and am glad to have a nice little shop like this so close to my apartment.

Good prices, very nice and knowledgeable staff, very good inventory.

It was my first visit to this art store so I can’t review it better. I needed new drawing/​sketching pens and they don’t have Rotring Rapidograph pens… weird I thought that brand was popular enough to have in stock. They had some Copic pens and some other brands, though. The pen section isn’t what you’d find at a superstore (but it’s not a small art store either).
If you’re looking for a specific brand you should call first (or check their website) to make sure they have it if you’re driving far.
I will pay them a second visit one day and review further.