SCI-Arc Art Supply Store

helpful staff, nice selection. i just needed some supplies and was recommend it aand it was a refreshing change from the corporate Michaels or other art supply chains. those bitching about the prices must realize that sci arc only charges and their suppliers dictate

Convienent… for some.
Speaking as an ex-​Sci-​Arc student I give this store 3 stars. As a general consumer I give it 2 stars.
For the most part, this place is open and stays open because of its relation to the school. They bank on knowing that the students have no where else to get their materials and they monopolize Don’t get me wrong now, it sells a good amount of product but my problem is the prices and management.
Students with Deep Pockets?
Because demand is so high, prices can rise and students will still buy their materials there because most students are international or students from out of state. If it truly is a «school store», prices need to reflect that also.

No parking
Overpriced
But…
Convenient (Close to SCI-​Arc)

Terrible selection, mechanical pencils? should have a good selection, right? architects use them. They have 4 kinds on a dark shelf. Chafa.

it would be great if the manager of the store actually knew what was in the store and what items are used for.
zero stars if i could…

After circling the block for about 20 minutes looking for parking, I rushed inside to have some 18×24 black line art files printed. I made sure to call before hand, and was given a reasonable price for 4 copies. I confirmed the price on the phone.
What happens when I talk to someone there? That wasn’t the correct price. Each one would be more than my original quote for 4 copies.
Great place to waste time, money and energy if you want to print something out, but don’t really need something printed out.
Would rate zero if possible.

Speaking as a designer, this store should be a jewel in the arts district but it is not.
I write this review having been a frequent customer of theirs over the last several years, from the early days when they were in the smaller space on Traction Ave. Having always advocated for independent businesses over the big box stores, I’ve recommended it to friends and colleagues, without hesitation — until now.
This afternoon an artist colleague of mine was returning some items that she ended up not needing, a return that was a fraction of the total purchases from this store for her project. Though it was outside of their return policy’s time window for refunds, most stores of their kind make an allowance — especially for frequent customers — to accept the return in exchange for store credit.
But not this store, not this manager. What was even worse than his refusal to keep a long-​standing customer happy, his attitude was entirely unprofessional (condescending would be the appropriate term), as if my colleague was putting him out by even suggesting the idea of store credit and that he was magnanimous for even agreeing to consider such a request (before ultimately refusing).
Avoid this store at all costs. There are better, cheaper options — with better customer service.

Best art store in downtown Los Angeles. Good prices and everything you could possibly need.

It has a great selection of materials and tools architects use; model materials, technical pens, pencils, sketch books, etc. They also have a pretty good selection of general art supplies as well, though you will probably be out of luck for craft supplies here.

Selection is great because they carry a plethora of supplies for architecture, art, and fashion students. Model building supplies are great and they carry this grey chip that makes nice study models and works well to make a concrete looking model.
However, the biggest drawback is their customer service. Knowing that there are many students from Sci-​arc, FIDM, and USC that go there, they lack the humanity to assist their customers when walking around the floor.
They also say that their prices are cheaper than retail, however they mean MSRP. For all I know, they can make it 1 cent less and claim that they’re cheaper. I’d stick with dick blick for any of your typical items rather than going here and getting ripped off when purchasing these things in bulk.
I never go to sci-​arc unless I desperately need something from there and don’t have time to order it online. Their customer service and pricing is ridiculous and takes advantage of those who are too lazy to shop around.
I would suggest ROARK, though with less selection, because they make sure that all your questions are answered and they have excellent art shows on exhibit. If they don’t have what you need, they’re willing to give you suggestions or even order it for you. Sci-​arc doesn’t give a crap about this kind of stuff. They just leave you in a position of «What am I supposed to do now?»
Pass up this place unless you have no other choice, but to go to this dreaded and dreary establishment.

It’s kind of hard to find but it is located a few door down from Wurstkuche.
My son is taking an architecture class and had about 25 things he needed and this was one of the places recommended the other in Santa Monica.
I came here today and I had NO idea what anything was but the gentleman that works there was nice enough to spend about an half hour finding the items in the list.
Their prices are good and the service is great… oh btw they specialize in Architecture so you won’t find your typical arts and crafts stuff here.
Even if you are not an aspiring architect check this place out if you are visiting Wurstkuche. Located across the street from the soon to be gone Crazy Gideons.

Ah Sci Arc Supply Store, your selection of technical pens is phenomenal. A dangerous place for a pen junky like me. They carry Copic multiliner pens, which is far and away my fave brand of pen.
They also have some great sketch books, pencil cases, some moleskines, and a bunch of other stuff. Keep in mind this place is more geared towards the Architect crowd so you won’t find everything a traditional art store has, but they have a great selection regardless. Good for us drawing types stuck in downtown.
They earned their four stars despite the fact that sometimes the staff here can be RUDE as all get out.

The SCI-​Arc Supply Store is probably the best shop for architectural supplies in the city, at least that I know of. It’s even pretty good as a general art store despite being so small, though it’s predictably curated towards architects, as an offshoot of the Southern California Institute of Architecture. It even defeats expectations since it’s fairly reasonably priced for a specialty store — not the cheapest prices for everything, but definitely not the most expensive either. I came here all the time for supplies when I worked as an architect — it was often the first place we checked if we had a bunch of weird items we needed. I still come fairly regularly even though I now go to school way across town at UCLA. Even though it’s the best place I’ve found for architecture stuff, there’s still room for improvement; I feel like they should talk to students more about what weird super-​specialty items they should stock, like that grey insulation foam that’s usually only available on the east coast but is great to use for iterative models. Though it’s generally a very pleasant place to shop, the one thing that has annoyed me over and over is that I can’t find their hours anywhere online, and they don’t even have a voicemail message with the information. I’ll have to remember to write them down next time I visit. If they add their hours to the SCI-​Arc website, and maybe even add an after-​hours supplies vending machine, they’d be perfect!