Old Seattle Paperworks

Heck yeah! This is my absolute favorite store to browse when I’m at the market, and I’m not gonna lie, I normally end up walking out with at least a few vintage posters. The entire store is full of vintage poster reproductions as well as old magazines, newspapers, etc. It’s so fun to browse. Last time I got lucky. They had a $ 5 bin of poster reproductions. What a steal! I have spent at least an hour in there each time I go. My favorite are the travel posters and the vintage music/​show posters. So cool.

If you are a fan of vintage advertising (I am, in a huge way) this tiny shop on one of the lower levels of the Pike Place market is definitely something to check out. Apparently, the owner has been at it for more than 40 years so expect a well curated, well organized selection of both original and reproduction stuff.
When I visited, there were very few people in the store but I’d imagine on a busy weekend that it would get very crowded. Bins are organized by theme (food, beer, tobacco, military, etc) and marked clearly if they are original or not. I snapped up 3 original ads for $ 40 — I especially love the glamorous smoking ad — girl is going to die from lung cancer, but dammit she’s going to go out looking good!
Also a plus for me was the ability to get some of the classic ad posters in a smaller size as many of my walls at home won’t accommodate larger pieces. I really appreciated that they left the rigid plastic protectors on everything I bought so nothing will rumple or crease on my trip home.
Obviously, this store is something that’s either going to be «your thing» or not — I found it to absolutely be my thing and found some real treasures.

Yes the posters and art are pretty neat, but wow the customer service sucks. The worker here always has this sour look on her face and you can tell she really hates her job. Definitely makes shopping here uncomfortable.

I ended up coming here and bought some unique souvenirs for our friends. They had old magazines, including GQ and Motor Trend, that my male friends would like. They also have prints and posters of all varieties. The owner talked to us, and realizing that we were from out of town, he gave us various suggestions for the city as well as the market. We ended up spending a fair amount of time exploring and going through the various items in the shop.

This is such a fun shop! If you’re looking for something different to decorate your home with, this is the place. We found a great «Wallace Brothers Circus» poster and had it framed a few years ago at this shop, and had it framed for our house. Make sure you have time to look when you go here, there is so much to see!

If you’re an old school journal writer like myself. As in my notebook is my pad. I call it my MYpad. I love paper goods and items. I still write thank you notes to friends and letters sent in the mail with the postal stamp. The prices for some of the paper goods are high and some are hipster normal that is getting a little old fashion, however, I am always inspired every year when I come here with a writing project or writing a little note of thanks. Guy at the til is decent.

This place is great for vintage and reproduction printed materials. The owners are super friendly and knowledgeable. I could spend a week here going through the archives and not get bored or get through everything in the store.

Absolutely amazing. Whenever I come here, I always leave with at least three purchases. They sell antique maps for fifteen dollars each, or three for forty dollars, which is really an unbeatable price in my experience. While other reviews seem to find the products pricey, from my research they are an amazing value. The selection is fabulous, and the stock of vintage Playboy magazines is really indescribable. I found the exact issue I was looking for, with help from who I assume was the owner. He also put me in touch with where I could find vintage copies of Playboy Brazil, which he didn’t carry. A must see for anyone visiting the Market.

A whole bunch of reproduction prints and a row of original ads and magazines from the 30s-​80s. It was really cool vintage things, but over priced for what it was. $ 15 for something printed out is ridiculous. There was no one really helping out. I was looking for specific cycling related prints and ads, but I had to scrounge around in there on my own. Didn’t at one time interact with the owner/​cashier whoever it was. I’m so used to Pike Market stores having friendly owners who enjoy talking to their customers. This place — not so much.

Vintage prints are awesome! The lady who works here though is incredibly grumpy.

I’ve been in here a half dozen times and I’ve never bought anything. It’s not because they don’t have things I want to buy, but because this is one of the places I always take visitors from out of town and because we have no walls left to hang stuff. If nothing else, I like to flip through all the old posters, adverts and pinups and imagine how awesomely retro my apartment would be if I were 10 years younger, single and not totally uncool. The Most Interesting Man in the World would do my laundry and I’d be unstoppable!

Hell Yes! Vintage or reproduction works of posters, magazines, newspapers, propaganda posters, stuff that reminds me of history and culture. I was perusing all of the 1940s, 50s, 60s, office technology diagrams, all works of historical art that I appreciate, in my view anyway.
This place shows a history of American culture, at times, I appreciate more than today’s fast driven world. It reminds me to appreciate the smaller things in life and to try to slow down.
Once I get my home office finished remodeling, I’ll be stopping here, dealing with the crowd, and spending a few bucks. :-)

I love retro posters and this place has a lot of them. I got a couple from this store and it really made my room look so much better. I got some cool Houdini, James Bond, Marilyn Monroe, and some black and white posters and photos. The price is a little high but it’s definitely worth it if you’e in the market for some posters and photos to make your room little cooler. The staff are actual fans of retro posters and they are nice. I give the shop 4 stars because of the limited selections (they have a lot but many of the posters are the same ones and I’ve been there couple times in the past year and I haven’t seen anything new). I hope to see more new posters when I go there next time.

I miss this place dearly. Thinking about a trip back to Seattle just to revisit this shop. So happy that they remain. Mermaids and opium dens and art nouveau. WWII propaganda and turn of the century postcards. Dazzling visual time warps.

Why four stars? cuz’ they are missing Wonder Women and Jet Li! I need some ninja posters, and some Power Rangers please??? :P
Place is a splurge. I treated myself with vintage prints of Audrey Hepburns and Marilyn Monroes. I love these two Leading Ladies! They are absolutely STUNNING!!!
Came here today to gift myself before midterms.
I absolutely love myself way too much! Felt like I was in a shopping spree today. I am kind of stingy but today was just a «carefree day»! Spoiling thyself once in awhile.

Yes, it is in the Market — so it is crowded, a bit stuffy, and pricey.
Fact of the matter is that this store has great vintage prints an repro prints — mags, posters, newspapers, you name it! From cheesecake to propaganda to band posters to adverts… They seemingly have it all. If you don’t mind bumping elbows with people it is certainly easy to spend a lot of time browsing through all the options you have here.
Definitely worth a peek for something fun to hang on your wall.

I know nothing about purchasing vintage prints. I don’t know what’s cheap, and what’s expensive. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy good ones, of which this place has many.
While some of the screenprinted concert posters were a bit more expensive, I found some of the bargain bins to have really great finds. I really love postcards, and they had a pretty decent selection of postcards from 1930 – 1970. Ran me $ 1 a piece, which was worth it considering some of the gems I found.
I can’t speak for all of the staff, but the one girl who was there was super friendly, even though I was clearly from out of town and rooting for the team playing against the Seahawks that day, she made me feel welcome in the fair Emerald City of Seattle, which in addition to the great paper selection was enough to merit a five star rating out of me.
Definitely one of the cooler jaunts in Pike’s Place.

I was recently in Seattle on vacation and stopped into OSP while shopping at Pike Place Market. The selection is tremendous if you are looking for something classy, stylish, and vintage for your walls.
The staff was friendly, courteous, and quite helpful despite the close quarters of the shop that was filled with busy Sunday market-​goers. In error, I was charged twice for a single print and discovered the extra charge when I got home. After calling the shop, they were very good about getting the charge credited back to my account.
I will definitely be stopping in the next time I visit my friends in town.

Every now and then you run into shops like this. I love em’!
Old newspapers, vintage magazines, propaganda and ad clippings– That’s what you’ll find here. Out of respect for the «No Pictures» sign inside the store I have nothing to show you Unilocalers, but I can tell you this place is pretty cool. I spent so much time browsing the magazine racks inside Paperworks that I almost forgot about all the delicious seafood calling my name outside– just a few storefronts away.
Very cool shop and worthy of this quick 4 star review– check it out if you’re in the area!

I am a sucker for vintage and retro repro prints and this is the place I go to feed my desires. I can spend a long time in this place, just browsing through the posters.
This last time I ended up leaving with a repro poster featuring The Great Escape. Awesome movie, awesome poster. I’m psyched to frame it and put it up on the wall.
Prices are a little bit steep, but the quality is high and the people are friendly. There’s also plenty of selection and the shop is really fun overall.