On the occasion of our new location in Wallingford, we thought we’d look back at some of our previous stores.

In 1983 we opened our first  location on upper Fremont Ave next to the Pink ‘N Pretty Beauty Salon in Fremont/Wallingford. This was a store with folding tables and open cardboard boxes full of awesome stuff laid out randomly. As you can see from the signs in the window, our marketing plan could use a little work.

This second Fremont location on Stone Way is where most people discovered us. This rickety building was crammed full of stuff which we stacked on shelves made of recycled coffin wood. Don’t ask where we got the wood. Even the light switch was a work of art. It was, however, freezing in the winter and oven hot in the summer.

Then in 1999 we moved to a larger, more modern building in Ballard. Originally a Food Giant supermarket and then a boat shop, the interior had several large garage doors that we covered with stuff to make it look more like home. In 2004 we added More Archie McPhee to accommodate larger items and give us space to grow.

When we were no longer able to stay in our Ballard location we searched furiously for a suitable replacement. Thankfully we found it. Our new Wallingford location puts us in the middle of a busy urban area that seems to be a perfect fit for our particular sensibility. And our first customer, Nate, proved that people are still willing to buy things even though we’re in Wallingford. Excelsior!

You can see more of our new store and our history on Flickr.