Archie McPhee

Archie McPhee
Private
Industry Novelty dealer
Founded 1983
Key people
 Mark Pahlow, owner
Products Assorted novelty items
Website http://www.mcphee.com
Archie McPhee store in Ballard, Seattle, Washington
Chicken suit at the Archie McPhee store

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.

The 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 while maintaining enough countercultural credentials that Ben & Jerry's Wavy Gravy ice cream was introduced at a party on the premises in 1993.

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." Pearl later posed for a 13 cm hard plastic doll, and librarians from all around the world registered their dismay at its "amazing push-button shushing action!"

Archie McPhee has since been featured in Scientific American's "Technology and Business" review and Time Magazine's fifty coolest websites of 2005. In June 2009 Archie McPhee moved from its Ballard location to Wallingford, a Seattle neighborhood on the other side of Phinney Ridge, west of the University of Washington.

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ Jack Broom, Archie McPhee expands its garden of goofiness, The Seattle Times (June 28, 2004)
  2. ^ Seattle Destinations Frommer's Travel Guide, 2005.
  3. ^ Brian Stephens, A new home for Seattle's rubber chickens, The Daily (University of Washington)
  4. ^ Brian Calvert, Able To 'Shush' All Buildings With A Single Sound?, KOMO 1000 News (2005)
  5. ^ Jack Broom, All booked up: Nancy Pearl's fame continues to grow, The Seattle Times (2004)
  6. ^ Outcry over librarian doll, The Sydney Morning Herald (2003)
  7. ^ Steve Mirsky, Check Those Figures, Scientific American (2005)
  8. ^ 50 Coolest Websites 2005 Time Online Edition

External links

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