Accent Arts

Great art supplies for all types of people. I’ve been learning to watercolor over the summer and the staff at Accent Arts has been extremely great in helping me find the right supplies. When I finally decided I was ready for a decent brush, the staff helped me find the right one, and the clerk even gave me a booklet of quality watercolor paper that had a slight (SLIGHT) deformity and couldn’t be sold. That’s over $ 20 of watercolor paper for free.
For the times that I visited the store and didn’t have questions, the staff was respectful of my «just browsing» and let me wander for a long time. I’ll be sure to visit another few times before I have to go back to school in SoCal.

I so love this store, it’s where I go now days for my art needs. I like that they have a range from student grade to professional supplies, and that even within that range you can go moderate or splurge, there is a choice. The stuff is friendly and knowledgeable, I appreciate that part too.

I have to amend my review from yesterday. After an unfortunate interaction with the employees and owner of this store, Rob, a salesperson, went out of his way not only to get my students’ artwork together as soon as the store closed yesterday, but packaged them up neatly and carefully (better than I brought them in) and taped to the front was a Starbucks card for me in apology. An unnecessary but very kind gesture, and we both apologized for the previous day’s frustrations. Well done!

The store carries everything an artist could possibly ask for. They carry harder to find brands (e.g. Holbein gouches, Neo Piko markers) as well as common ones (Windsor & Newton paints or Strathmore paper). The staff is always friendly and helpful and greet you with a smile.

What a wonderful store. When I walked in, I thought, «Now THIS is an art store». I’m so used to shopping at Michaels or Aaron Brothers that I almost forgot what it was like to be in an actual art store, one that has one of everything in every color of the rainbow and every medium (I worked for an art store out of high school for years). And no foam crafts, pipe cleaners or googly eyes in sight (although they do have their place)!
The staff is seasoned and knowledgeable. They’re there, but they don’t harangue you or pressure you in any way. I loved walking around, checking out supplies, new and old, and thinking, «I really should start paying more attention to the creative side of me!» It really is a nice place, where people can try out supplies and browse at their own speed. That was one thing that I enjoyed –the tactile experience of being able to try things out at my leisure and make up my own mind as to whether I wanted to try, or buy (obviously this is limited to pencils and some types of pens, oil pastels, charcoal, graphite, etc. –not paint!).
The store is small but there’s so many supplies in there that I’m sure they have just about anything an artist who works with standard media would require.
Now just a word about the merchandise, because the store I worked in was wonderful as well, and I’ll keep the name under wraps at this time, but the owners would actually come in and pitch a fit if there was dust on anything, if the testing papers hadn’t been changed, if the inevitable oil pastel and marker writing hadn’t been cleaned off of the shelves or the displays. So coming in here and seeing a sort of shabbiness took me aback a little. However, it doesn’t bother me, to say the least. Just saying, it’s NOT Michael’s and it’s NOT Aaron Brothers or University Art, which are fairly impeccable in comparison. I found it sort of refreshing.
The prices are very reasonable.
Will most definitely be back!!!

Many thanks to Tom in the framing department. Even though I didn’t end up with a custom frame, he was extremely helpful and patient in arriving at a solution for my last minute framing needs. I had an odd sized poster that I needed to frame right away. We went through a couple of options and ended up with using an oversized frame, and cutting a mat (?) board to make it look better. He cut the board within the hour, and set everything out for me.
I just can’t say enough how much I appreciate his help and expertise. It speaks volumes to why small businesses like this matter. Sure I could have ordered a frame online, but I never would have been able to get expert advise on how to get that special spotlight that the poster deserves.
Will certainly be coming back for all my framing needs.

A treasure trove of great stuff for the artist along with valuable advice on all things.

Awesome people and super awesome advice.
I am a student at Stanford and I purchase stuff for my art class from accent arts. I am very noob at art supplies; every time I go to accent arts, they help me pick the type of stuff I want to buy, based on what I want to do. Their advice has been reallllly helpful till now. They deserve five stars :)
But, somehow, surprisingly, I meet different people every time I go to this place: D

I know this is an Art Store and should have that «Artsy» feel but this place is an unorganized mess. I found the place dirty, messy and too full of merchandise. Parking was a nightmare and prices were too high. Glad I visited as I will not be returning. Too much hassle for the reward.

This is a review for the picture framing service at Accent Arts. I was a loyal customer of University Art in Palo Alto until it recently moved out of town — so I was looking for a new framer. Neighbors recommended Accent Arts to me. I was impressed both by their service and their prices. I found a coupon online that they honored and then they worked hard to find a frame material that matched one I that I was trying to copy. Then it turned out that my original choice wouldn’t work (it needed to be in a different wood) — so they called a number of suppliers and found that same style in the new wood. The price even went down and their turnaround was about twice as fast as I expected. I will definitely use them for my next framing job.

Great place to find what I need in oil paints. They stock a variety of oil paints by different mfg. companies with a range of prices

This is among the last of the traditional arts supply stores — lots of much-​loved old stock and one-​of-​a-​kind treasures that one will never find at the artist supply chains. The folks up front are knowledgeable and extremely helpful. They steered me towards a local (California) mfr of watercolor pigments that I had never known about (Rublev) and helped me pick out some neat new brushes that I had never seen before.
This is a truly exceptional place, well worth visiting!

This place is awesome! I’ve been buying art supplies here since I was in high school. They used to give me a student discount which was great. It’s a bit cramped inside and somewhat disorganized, but I think that just adds to the charm. They’re selection of art supplies and variety of different brands is especially great. They also have a little nook of sale items in the back. Prices are fair.
Everyone working their is super helpful and willing to help. I appreciate how knowledgable everyone there is about art supplies/​all things art. These guys really know what they’re talking about! Over the years they’ve helped me pick various types of brushes, illustration paper, canvases, paints, etc. In the past they’ve even ordered items for me that were out of stock/​unavailable in store.

I like this place — been going here for years to stock my daughters art supplies.
It is a ‘disorganized’ and ‘musty crypt’ with employees that have never been to ‘customer service bootcamp’ that is why we go here.
If I wanted a Walmart experience, I’d go to Walmart…

Great service with a personal touch. I was desperate to get a photo framed for a funeral service last minute after a local business down the street messed up. They were very understanding and willing to rush the order with a next day delivery without extra charge.
Kudos!

I’ve been going to this place for two years now (since I started taking art classes at Stanford) and these guys rock. They have a good selection of nearly everything adn are always willing to help when you ask. I’ve gone for things I need for class, to the more obscure things such as dyes, synthetic paints, and frames. It’s a quirky place and University art seems cleaner, but the overall atmosphere and categorization makes things easier for me to get in and out, or if I feel like, browse.

After reading some of the less than great reviews of this place, I thought that I would not like this store. Well, I do like it! I’ve only been two times, but so far– so good! The people working there were pleasant and helpful. I found what I needed: paper without folds and damage. They have a decent selection of paper. The place is a little packed, but still tolerable. It wasn’t busy when I was there, hence why the cramped store was tolerable.

Albeit that I have not visited recently, my home studio is well stocked with paints, brushes, tools from Accent. This had been a frequent destination since 1998.
Recommended by a great painting teacher (Skip C.) at Foothill College, they have been a great resource.
I have always found their sales to be great (Escoda brushes, easels, paints, etc) but their advice and personal experiences with materials to be valuable. I don’t recall staff jumping over the counter to offer unprompted help, but when I asked for assistance or their recommendation they were more engaged and instructive.
Although less tidy than other art supply stores, I like to explore and discover. Always walked out with something in hand and with a smile.
High quality art supplies, not just common brands.
I recall that their periodic sales made things more affordable, and if an «art student» they always seemed to honor a student discount (check that). That helped some.
Happy painting

The prices are just bit high, but this place has a really good selection of quality art supplies you won’t find elsewhere easily. I get some of my lovely wife’s painting supplies here, and this is the only place I’ve found that sells individual pigment pens I like to use as highlighters (everywhere else sells them in really expensive sets). However, some things, such as poster boards, can be really outdated (even faded) and WAY too expensive for what you get.
They request a $ 10 minimum on credit card purchases.

If there was another place in this area that I could get to easily, I’d go somewhere else.
It’s a giant mess, horribly disorganized. Kind of quaint, except that it took me an extra 30 minutes to find what I needed. The canvasboard was not near the canvases. I can sort of see what they were thinking when they organized stuff, but it’s just not working.
Probably 70% of the store is «on sale», meaning you never know what the actual price is until you check out. Some stuff isn’t even labeled.
I needed some kinda crappy brushes for dipping my feet back into acrylic paints (I’m notorious for forgetting to clean my brushes, so I’m not allowed to have nice ones x_​x), so I asked the guy at the counter if they had any brush sets. I get this snarky, pissy reply: «well we HAVE some, but no one would want to use them.» Wtf, how do you know what I’m looking for?
Not a fun art store experience for me. And I usually love art stores and drop a lot of money in them…