Elaine and I stopped into Moleskine stores in Manhattan and Cambridge late last month. (We didn’t know that there were such stores until we happened upon them.) I was looking for the 2017 Pocket Weekly Planner (hardcover, horizontal layout). In past years, the next year’s Moleskine planners became available in May or June. In each Moleskine store this May, eighteen-month 2016–17 planners abounded, but no 2017 planners. Not until November, we were told in Manhattan. Not until October, we were told in Cambridge.
And yet — we walked into an independent bookstore, headed to the Moleskine shelves, and there it was, the 2017 PWP, along with other 2017 Moleskine planners. I asked the clerk about the October/November release date, and she was puzzled. She checked and told me that the store had another eighteeen 2017 PWPs in stock. I checked Amazon and discovered that 2017 Moleskine planners have been available since May 18.
It seems reasonable to wonder whether Moleskine stores are holding off on displaying 2017 planners to give the 2016–17 merchandise a longer shelf life. The Moleskine website shows only 2016 and 2016–17 planners. The company’s Twitter makes reference to 2016–17 planners as “new arrivals” and has nothing to say about 2017 planners. May–June is the new-planner season, at least for those who are slightly obsessive, and there’s something odd and unpleasant about a company holding back merchandise from its regular customers while trying to hook new customers mid-year. I don’t need an eighteen-month Moleskine planner, because I bought a 2016 Moleskine last year.
For now, anyone who’s looking for a 2017 Moleskine planner would do well to look anyplace but a Moleskine store.
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June 20: I wrote to Moleskine on June 3 and, again, yesterday, with a link to this post. I received a reply this morning. A company representative tells me that “this kind of information hasn’t been released from our offices” and that 2017 planners are now available from the Moleskine website. Which still doesn’t explain why in Moleskine’s stores I was told “October” and “November.”
Related reading
All OCA Moleskine posts (Pinboard)
Friday, June 3, 2016
Where are the 2017 Moleskine planners?
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comments: 4
Ugh. The moleskine store near me in NJ closed last year and became an "Agent Provocateur"; very funny to me (after I recovered from my shock by discovering that my favorite small dots-instead-instead-of-lines grid notebook in a buff-colored softcover was available on Amazon.)
I'm not familiar with the planner you mention, but it sounds intriguing. I need to set eyes on one this season. I need a good/better planner in my life. Ah, the Supplies Life!
Switching from page-a-day to week-on-two-pages was a major side effect of retiring. But I’ve adjusted. Happy hunting!
This would be like going to Amazon to find they don't have the latest Amazon Fire tablet; "Due out in August," and then drive to Best Buy and find it front and center. The Moleskine Store not having the latest of their own brand is just bizarre.
Yes, bizarre. I’m wondering if the company will respond (I’ve written to them, of course).
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