Cooke Stationery — All Dressed Up

To butcher a cliché: I do not remember what was in the first Cooke Stationery display window I saw, but I will never forget how it made me feel, which was both astonished and delighted. 

These windows — there are two, each with its own theme — change slowly, with scenes sticking around three or four months, which is good, because it probably takes that long to notice all the details. 

These details happen thanks to Robin Bielefeld. For the past seven years, Robin has brought life to what is, objectively, downtown Salem’s most consistently amusing window display. Or displays, really; she usually has a different theme for the left window (which starts around waist height) and the right, which is more of a floor-to-ceiling situation.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, the left was awash in pastels for the cake theme. What initially looks like a normal cake, upon close examination, is made nearly entirely of office supplies. Paper clips became frosting, scotch tape rolls made up the filling of what one must assume is a key lime pie, and thick pink highlighters held up a tier of colored pencil candles. 

Meanwhile, on the right side, bold paper letters declared: HEY KIDS! IT’S PEE-WEE’S OFFICE!, and so it was. Any fan of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse would instantly recognize the zig-zag of the bright red door, the jeweled box that contains Jambi the Genie (in this case, played not by character actor John Paragon but really a glass head that Alison Pascal, Robin’s window assistant, painted blue with red sparkly lips).

“I have partners in crime — I have three other people that kind of help kibbutz,” she said. “One of our latest hires, Alison, she’s an art student as well, and she does wonderful things.”

The entire process, she said, takes weeks, and is kicked off once they’ve decided on what props they’re going to make.

“Usually, it’s two or three props,” Robin said, “but sometimes we go a little bit overboard.”

Perhaps Robin does indeed set out to do two or three props, but it seems like that rarely happens. One of her favorites — a steampunk mannequin whose bustier is made of duct tape and cinched with ribbon wove through keyrings — stands watch over the cash register.

Behind a counter, Robin pulls out her cardboard masterpieces — an elaborate gnome house rendered in pastel and sharpie, a Pokémon of her own design, a middle-aged Medusa with a ‘Have a Nice Day’ mug. 

“I work right here,” she said, gesturing at the glass display case, “so I can take care of customers, too.” 

The windows are nearly always conversation starters; a recent Edward Gorey one delighted those who knew his work (including a man who met him in person) and puzzled everyone else. 

The easiest part, surprisingly, is choosing and arranging the merchandise itself, which usually takes only an hour or so. Once the set pieces are in place, Robin simply “shops,” selecting items, arranging, putting some back or bringing out more, thinking always of color, theme and overall aesthetic.  

Robin remembers, as a child in the ‘60s, visiting the Marshall Field’s store at Christmas with her grandmother, and being transfixed.

“They were very elaborate — with mechanical figures and trains going through little villages and that kind of thing,” she said. “I’ve always loved window displays, set design — I’ve always been very interested in creating environments.”

She agreed that her thematic windows are, indeed, unique, since most are simply used to highlight a particular line or items on sale. Hers, meanwhile, are so enchanting that sometimes customers are a little bit surprised once they step inside. 

“Every so often we have people that say, ‘Oh, it’s just office supplies,’” she said. But for loyal customers and admiring looky-loos, Robin’s Tony Award-worthy window designs keep people coming back to Cooke Stationery. Both form and function, it proves that office supplies, like much else, are more than what they appear. It’s no wonder their motto is “Look to Cooke.” With sensory-satiating eye candy like Robin’s noteworthy handiwork, it’s easy to find yourself pausing to look…then looking closer…and finding beauty in the mundane.

Cooke Stationery

370 State St.
cookestationery.com

This story originally ran in Press Play Salem issue 3 (Oct/Nov 2018)

Author: Kelly Williams Brown

Kelly Williams Brown is the New York Times-bestselling author of “Adulting.” In her spare time, she likes to read, dance, craft, drive to small towns to eat lunch, dress up in folk costume, and seek out the few shades of red lipstick that a redhead can reasonably pull off.