Archie McPhee is a Seattle-based novelty dealer owned by Mark Pahlow. Begun in the 1970s in Los Angeles as the mail-order business Accoutrements, in 1983 it opened a retail outlet dubbed "Archie McPhee" after Pahlow's wife's great-uncle.[1]
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Novelty dealer |
| Founded | 1983 |
Key people | Mark Pahlow, owner |
| Products | Assorted novelty items |
| Website | mcphee |
History
editMark Pahlow began selling "quirky and unusual items" in the 1970s through a mail-order business named Accoutrements that was based in Los Angeles.[1][2] The company opened their first retail outlet in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle in July 1983; the store was named Archie McPhee for Pahlow's wife's great-uncle, a jazz musician and jokester.[1][3] The company's main warehouse and offices opened in 1996 at a suburban business park in Mukilteo.[2] The Archie McPhee store relocated in 1999 to a larger storefront in the city's Ballard neighborhood.[4] The company later bought a neighboring liquor store that it converted into a home decor store named "More Archie McPhee".[1][3] In 2009, the store moved to a smaller space in Wallingford.[5]
Products
editThe company's line expanded from rubber chickens to glow-in-the-dark aliens, bacon-scented air freshener, and hula-girl swizzle sticks among other items. It became a popular Seattle tourist destination[6] while maintaining enough countercultural credentials that Ben & Jerry's Wavy Gravy ice cream was introduced at a party on the premises in 1993.[7]
Its kitsch appeal received further national attention from the Librarian Action Figure. In 2002, Nancy Pearl told Pahlow over dinner that librarians like herself "perform miracles every day".[8] Pearl later posed for a 13 cm hard plastic doll,[9] and librarians from all around the world registered their dismay at its "amazing push-button shushing action!"[10]
Archie McPhee has since been featured in Scientific American's "Technology and Business" review[11] and Time magazine's fifty coolest websites of 2005.[12] In 2018, Archie McPhee opened the Rubber Chicken Museum inside its Wallingford location.[13]
See also
editFurther reading
edit- Mark Pahlow with Gibson Holub and David Wahl, Who Would Buy This? The Archie McPhee Story, Seattle: The Accoutrements Publishing Co., 2008, ISBN 978-0-9786649-7-8.
References
edit- ^ a b c d Broom, Jack (June 28, 2004). "Archie McPhee expands its garden of goofiness into a second building". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2004. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Brown, Andrea (September 4, 2016). "Archie McPhee's wacky wonders are dreamed up in Mukilteo". The Everett Herald. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Frey, Christine (April 8, 2004). "Archie McPhee to expand". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. p. E1.
- ^ Stripling, Sherry (March 1, 1999). "Strangeness in store". The Seattle Times. p. F1. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
- ^ Richman, Dan (September 30, 2008). "Archie McPhee taking its toys to Wallingford". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved July 19, 2023.
- ^ "Seattle Destinations" Frommer's Travel Guide, 2005.
- ^ Brian Stephens, "A new home for Seattle's rubber chickens", The Daily of the University of Washington
- ^ Brian Calvert, "Able To 'Shush' All Buildings With A Single Sound?", KOMO Radio (2005)
- ^ Jack Broom, All booked up: Nancy Pearl's fame continues to grow, The Seattle Times (2004)
- ^ "Outcry over librarian doll", The Sydney Morning Herald (2003)
- ^ Steve Mirsky, "Check Those Figures", Scientific American (2005)
- ^ "50 Coolest Websites 2005". Time
- ^ Group, Sinclair Broadcast (May 31, 2018). "The World's Only Rubber Chicken Museum... is in Seattle". Seattle Refined. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
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