Where this Retail Architect Finds Sketching Supplies

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New York City has more stores than anyone could physically tackle, but somehow we always keep returning to the usual suspects. To break out of the rut, we've asked some local shopping and fashion gurus to provide their hidden retail gems—those unique stores around our fantastic city that we might not all know about. Cue the Beatles: We're about to get a little help from our friends.

Image via Flickr

Jeremy Barbour, founder of Tacklebox Architecture, has done retail and interior design work for Aesop, Vena Cava, Shipley & Halmos and 3.1 Phillip Lim. His latest high-profile project: figuring out how to staple 25,000 brown paper bags on the walls of new Meatpacking District boutique Owen.

One of my favorite places is the The Brooklyn Art Library on North 3rd Street in Williamsburg. This is the physical home of the The Sketchbook Project, a collaborative project that archives and displays the sketchbooks of 5,000 artists from all over the world. First grab a coffee down the street at Blue Bottle and some chocolate from the Mast Brothers next door and you'll be all set for hours of sketchbook exploration. They also have the best selection of vintage art supplies—pencils, erasers, farmer's memo books and wax marking crayons all in their original packaging. There is always something interesting there and I never leave empty-handed.

· The Brooklyn Art Library [Official Site]
· Tacklebox [Official Site]
· All Shopping Confidential Posts [Racked NY]

The Brooklyn Art Library

103A N. 3rd St. Brooklyn, NY 11211