Rubber chickens, potato guns, space mucus, nun punching puppets, wind-up lederhosen, and Uncle Oinkers Savory Bacon Mints! Oh my!
You can find all of the above mentioned wacky items and much much much much more at the Archie McPhee retail outlet in Seattle, Washington’s Ballard neighborhood at 2428 N.W. Market Street.
A warning:
Do not call Archie McPhee a gag or novelty store. Owner Mark Pahlow officially classifies it as “Outfitters of Popular Culture.” And purvey it does with over 10,000 weird and exotic items with prices ranging “from five cents to a thousand dollars and over.” The store’s recent annex expansion added 6500 square feet to the original store’s 5000.
Enter Archie McPhee and you can say “hello” to Motog the Talking Tiki God, step inside the Glow Room or numerous photo booths, and stand under the world’s largest pair of underpants (size 100 waist). And there’s even stuff that you can rent like flocks of pink lawn flamingos, a grove of palm trees, fog machines, and even a giant pair of scissors for ribbon cutting ceremonies.
Oh, yes, and the store even has a wedding registry!
How did Archie McPhee come about, you might ask?
In the 1970s, Mark Pahlow started “Accoutrements”, a mail order business run from his Los Angeles home. His original inventory consisted mostly of curio type items from his travels in Asia, and then it expanded to include kitschy items like rubber chickens and snow globes.
Archie McPhee was a jazz musician from Bismarck, North Dakota. Above all, he was a man with the overwhelming mission of bringing jazz to the Orient. In the 1920s, McPhee and his band, the North Star Music Makers, shipped off to Asia and performed in China, Japan, and the Philippines.
When Mark Pahlow opened his store, he felt that the real Archie’s freewheeling spirit would be the right tone for his business.
More about the store
Archie McPhee’s online business is its main source of revenue with customers from all over the world. The store’s online merchandise is separated into specific categories. Under the “weird” category (yes, the weirdest of the weird), items include corn dog air fresheners, ceramic cigarette smoking babies, the Pee Guy action figures, and the ever popular Avenging Narwhal Play Set.
Before you leave, visit the store’s “Cap’n Archie” animatronic mannequin, drop fifty cents into the slot, and it will give you a printed fortune and spout various words of wisdom such as: “Stay in school, don’t do drugs, and always eat your vegetables. That’s what I did and look at me now. Trapped for all eternity in this infernal glass box talking to strangers for loose change.”
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_McPhee
“Archie McPhee expands its garden of goofiness into a second building”, Jack Broom, Seattle Times, URL: (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2001965810_archie28.html)
