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I'll be honest with you — Viking isn't a brand I'd have expected to be writing a brand page for when I started this site back in 2022. I was posting retailer newsletters by hand every morning, mostly focused on the specialist art suppliers, and Viking sat somewhere in the periphery as "that office supplies place" rather than anywhere serious artists shopped. Sixteen years in this industry, most of it spent inside ARTdiscount's marketing team, teaches you to underestimate the generalists at your peril though, and Viking has quietly built one of the broadest catalogues of art and craft basics in the UK without ever really marketing itself as an art shop.
Who Viking actually are
Viking is part of Office Depot Europe, which tells you most of what you need to know about how they operate. This is a business built around volume, next-day delivery and account management for schools, offices and institutions, not around curating a beautiful range for painters. But somewhere along the way their catalogue expanded to cover a genuinely useful spread of art and craft essentials — sketchpads, cartridge paper, poster paint, marker pens, craft scissors, glue, general classroom art supplies — sitting alongside the printer paper and box files. If you've ever ordered supplies for a school art department, there's a decent chance Viking's van has been involved somewhere along the line.
What they're not is a specialist. You won't find the depth of professional-grade Winsor & Newton or Daler-Rowney ranges here that you'd get from a dedicated art retailer, and their own-brand lines are aimed squarely at classroom and office use rather than serious studio practice. Where Viking earns its place is in the bulk basics — the stuff that gets used up fast and doesn't need to be premium. Sketchbooks by the dozen for a school year. Poster paints for a primary classroom. Marker sets for a craft group. That's Viking's actual strength, and it's a real one.
The product range in practice
Their art and craft section covers the essentials most people actually run out of: cartridge paper and sketchpads in a range of sizes, poster and powder paints, acrylic sets aimed at beginners and classrooms, marker and felt tip pens, coloured pencils, craft glue and adhesives, scissors, and the general "art cupboard" consumables that schools and community groups burn through constantly. There's also a strong line in storage and organisation — plan chests, art trolleys, storage boxes — which is genuinely underappreciated and rarely stocked well by dedicated art retailers, who tend to assume you'll sort your own storage out.
If you're a hobbyist buying the occasional tube of paint, Viking probably isn't where you'll get the best price on any single premium item. But if you're buying in bulk — a classroom, a community art group, a studio restocking basics — the account pricing and delivery terms can work out genuinely competitive, and it's worth having them in the mix when you're comparing.
How to get the best deal on Viking art supplies
This is where I'd say my actual value to you sits, having spent the best part of a decade watching how discount and sale cycles work across UK retailers. Viking runs clearance and multi-buy offers more frequently than most people realise, but they're rarely shouted about — they tend to sit quietly in a "deals" section rather than being pushed through email marketing the way the specialist art retailers do it. That's exactly the gap this site exists to close.
The pattern I've noticed watching Viking's pricing since we added price comparison tracking in February 2026 is that their multi-buy and bulk discounts genuinely do improve the per-unit price meaningfully on things like paper and paint, more so than you'll typically see from a specialist retailer on the same lines. Where they're less competitive is on single premium items, where a dedicated art shop with better buying relationships on professional brands will usually beat them.
My advice, built from running this comparison engine across a 5,000+ product database daily: always check the live price comparison above before ordering from Viking directly, because the gap between their list price and their actual discounted price can be substantial, and it's not always the same items on offer week to week. If you're stocking a classroom or community group, look specifically at their multi-buy tiers rather than individual item prices — that's genuinely where the savings live.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Viking good for art supplies, or just office stationery? Both, honestly. Their core business is office and school supplies, but the art and craft range within that is broader than most people expect — just don't go in expecting specialist professional-grade materials.
Are Viking's art supplies cheaper than dedicated art shops? Sometimes, particularly on bulk and multi-buy basics like paper and classroom paint sets. On premium single items you'll usually do better with a specialist retailer — which is exactly why comparing prices before you buy matters.
Does Viking do delivery for art supplies? Yes, and it's one of their genuine strengths — fast, reliable delivery is core to their whole business model, which matters if you're restocking a classroom or studio in a hurry.
How often do Viking's art supply prices change? More often than you'd think for a business that doesn't market itself as a sale-driven retailer. We track their pricing daily as part of our comparison engine so you don't have to keep checking manually.
I've built this site on the principle that no single retailer, however big, is automatically your best option — and Viking is a good example of why that's true. Brilliant for bulk basics and classroom restocks, less so for specialist materials. Compare today's live Viking prices against Cass Art, Jacksons, Amazon and the rest above before you buy, and you'll always know you're getting the actual best deal rather than just a convenient one.
