Blick Art Materials

I went here today around 6:00 when I walked in I was welcomed by a nice lady with purple hair. But when I was walking around 2 employees where following me. I was wearing a hoddie and had a back pack but still, I felt kinda rushed. Helpful lady and I made small talk about copic markers and suggested other alternatives.

I came in looking for some crafty items, which Blick unfortunately did not carry. The manager, however, was super helpful in suggesting other potential stores that might have them, and in general, was very friendly. The stock that they did have was neatly organized and quite expansive.

The store was bright and clean. I found unexpected treasures that I could not resist purchasing. Everything was organized and easy to find! The staff was really friendly and engaging. Definitely would recommend this location to my art friends.

Talked to Megan on the phone and she was wonderful. I appreciated her giving me information on what they had in that store and where I could find things that I needed.

This store is amazing they have a very good variety of art materials, we always find what we are looking for. In particular I want to compliment the wonderful customer service experience received by me and my son from Megan. She helped my child, who has a physical disability. We needed help with choosing water colors, and she was wonderful very patient with my son, she actually ensured that we got what we needed and she answered all our questions. I am very grateful & appreciative that she helped us. Art is my child’s only creative outlet due to his condition. Blick is lucky to have a very educated art store employee who understands customers needs and is very patient with disabled needs, yet made the experience fun and stress free for me, as a parent.

As a new transfer student heading to a CA state university had been a rough start in buying individual supplies then face transfer issues that resulted being kicked out of two animation courses.
The situation led to returning most of the supplies. I’m very fortunate that the general manger Ian is very patient and informative about the return policies. He helped and willing to do the repetitive task of scanning and check my long receipt, and type down the item # (he had to type them down since 100% of the items were purchased from the Market branch). He actually helped me 2 times at different days in returning the items, in which I was afraid would frustrate him. He didn’t show any frustration when he was helping me, and small talk about my college.
When returning items, I recommend highlighting the name of the items you are returning them. I highlighted them before going to the store. Ian remarked how helpful it is while he was scanning the returned items. It really helps to keep track of items and a smooth process for the staff to return things, and save time for both the staff and you.
I want to thank you again Ian.
–The one in the lime green w/​white stripes

This store completely changed my perspective on Blick. I used to frequent the Market location and always left disappointed or borderline angry.
This was my first time visiting this location and I am glad i did. Every employee was extremely kind and helpful. I had a confusing list of materials I needed for a class and they helped me find every single item without appearing to be annoyed.
I will definitely be back for all of my tools for school.

Still a great place to get good art supplies that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg like Flax. Friendly and helpful staff

I came in to get help with an art project and asked one of the employees, Megan, for help. She was incredibly knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly and made my experience great! Ill definitely come back again for more art supplies.

I went to this blick store approximately 11am yesterday and saw they were reorganizing the store… no big deal. I finally found what I was looking for and was confronted by a staff and she acted like a total BI***. My friend who was visiting agreed and complained about her but realized the guy we talked to at the counter was laughing while his coworker was belittling us. She kept asking us what kind of watercolor with the nastiest attitude and I’ve never used them before so I wanted more info on them. She didn’t bother to explain and only and asked for my price range. IDK lady! I’m trying to learn which one is a good one to use… she was rude, disrespectful, and impatient. I understand if she was stressed about cleaning up the store but she can leave that attitude outside the door. Jeez… she needs an attitude check and I will be reporting her to the manager. Don’t waste your time at this screwed up know it nothing store. Go to the one on Market… the staff is way cooler and chill there. They know how to treat their customers.

Blick’s got a decent selection of art and art accessories. You can get spray paint, canvases, frames, and loads more. Prices are a bit on the high end, but they do have a good amount of stuff marked down on clearance.

If your business states it closes at 8pm on Unilocal it should still be open at 7pm. Other wise update your information. This is the second time. Weekdays or weekens…

Such a cool little spot right across from the Academy to pick up reasonably priced supplies.

Ok service. They had the notebooks that I needed.

NIHILIST sales staff. Unfortunately, this is too close to school… Will be trying FLAX!@ Market around Valencia… THEY ARE LOCALLY OWNED… not using a Dutch name to belie snide AMERICAN RUDE SALES attitude of «YOU are not the Artiste… MOI, Joe from Escondido paying off my $ 300,000 school loan is the one subjugated to having to take this sucky part time job to tell any customer, they can shove their wallet out of the way… so I can pick up my measly $ 200 per week paycheck»! Do NOT waste your TIME or MONEY!!!

I like this place. Walking distance from my apartment. A nice selection of Paperblanks journals in addition to the art supplies.

Was the 2^nd art supplies store I went to, way better than the 1^st one. The sales men was very nice and helpful he asked me if I want any help and in less than 1 min he got me what I want (it was stretcher bars) and much better of what I imagined but they didnt have flat corner irons no problem :). Great customer service.

Unilocal check in deal: 20% off one regular item with check in
I think there are 2 locations in SF and one in Berkeley. Anyway, pretty well stocked, but depends on which store — the Market St location doesn’t carry a wide selection of framing supplies, but the Van Ness location does. Customer service also varies by store.

Much less in stock and higher prices than Blick. Fortunately, they have coupons fairly frequently. Their own-​brand acrylic is quality, and their paper pads are good value. But their own-​brand cheap stretched canvas? It’s stapled on the outside! You wouldn’t want to see that hanging up, so you would really only buy it for studies, but why wouldn’t you just go to Blick and buy a cheap stretched canvas that has the staples hidden for roughly the same price?
I guess they survive because they’re near the Academy of Art University, but I can’t really find any reason you would want to go here rather than Blick, which is just a short hop away.
If you haven’t figured it out yet — yeah, go to Blick.

They have a practice here that I find obnoxious and annoying. There will be a tag under an item that says ‘Sale!’ — NOWHERE on this tag will there be any indication whatsoever that this is a member price. when I took a frame to the register I was told that in order to get this price I needed to sign up as a member. I was also told by the snotty twit that ‘that’s what they do at Safeway.’ Wrong — at Safeway it clearly says ‘club price’ so you know what you are dealing with.
I wrote to their head office about this bait-​and-​switch practice and of course received no response. Next is the BBB.
Avoid this dump.
(Update) — no response from their corporate HQ. I cannot say I’m surprised.