Pen Inventors Ink Deals With Wal-Mart, Office Depot

SAN MATEO, Calif., June 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Writing Instruments is proud to announce an exciting venture into a new frontier. Its innovative and popular PenAgain product line is currently debuting at 500 Wal-Mart stores across the United States, and it's also entering Office Depot this month.

Call it the "Little Pen That Could," for Pacific Writing Instrument's ergonomically efficient PenAgain has come a long way since inventor Colin Roche conjured up the radical design in 1987, during high school detention, of all places.

"The addition of Wal-Mart and Office Depot is a tremendous leap for our PenAgain product line," said Roche, 34, a Palo Alto native and San Mateo resident. "We are finally being given the chance to prove the value of offering a truly ergonomic pen to the consumers on a massive scale. Its makes it much more accessible for our growing customer base"

Preliminary figures show encouraging results during PenAgain's 30-day trial run on the Wal-Mart shelves. To stay in those stores and earn consideration for wider distribution, roughly 85 percent of the 48,000 pens ordered must be sold.

"It's a step from being a grassroots product into a more mainstream market," said Roche's partner, Bobby Ronsse, 34, a Yuba City native and Escondido resident. "This proves the viability of our pen and its mass appeal."

Five years since Pacific Writing Instruments was launched, over three million PenAgains have been sold, and just now is the snazzy pen getting its foot into the corporate-world door.

"This roll out in Wal-Mart and Office Depot is the beginning salvo in the 'Great Pen Wars' between PenAgain and the rest of the major brands that have enjoyed a near monopoly on the shelves of the mass market," Roche said. "What snowboards did to skiing is what the PenAgain is doing to the writing instrument industry. We are simply a different, more comfortable way to put ink onto paper."

PenAgain's unique, wishbone look is matched by its surprising comfort that no other pen can offer. Testimonials have poured in from throughout society, including medical professionals, teachers, students, journalists, engineers and those who suffer from hand ailments such as arthritis and carpel tunnel syndrome.

CONTACT: For more information on Pacific Writing Instruments or to schedule an interview with Colin Roche or Bobby Ronsse, please call 650-286-9093. Pacific Writing Instrument's Web site is http://www.penagain.com/.