The "Retro" store.

Somebody should just start a "Retro" store.

Boardgames, books, non-electric toys, vinyl records....abacus's....

Make a virtue out of necessity.

I would go heavy on the mechanical toys, the art design toys, the retro-futuristic toys.

Also wood toys and puzzles.

Heavy on the classics books and records. Have an old fashioned record player, where you played records all day.

Chess, cribbage, go, backgammon.

You would pretend you've never heard of computers. (Of course, you'd have to track down an old mechanical cash register.) Just look at people blankly when they mention anything electronic. Have fake gas light looking fixtures. Maybe a candle or two.

I'd sit at my counter all day with a old typewriter and try to write.

When someone pulls out a cell phone, you say, "What demonic device is that!" and act scared.

You'd have a steampunk clothes for the store uniform.

Probably be best if you tried it in Portland, but if you had money to burn.... Bend would be cool. No...not cool, unless I do it.

I would call it: "Luddites from Space." or "Forward to the Past!" or "Steampunk Cafe" or ....?


Later:

And comics! How could I have forgotten comics? And sports cards!

What you would do would be play up the old-fashioned handlebar mustache era of B.B. cards, while mostly selling new ones.

Play up the 30's Batman era, while mostly selling new ones.


This wouldn't be a junk store. Everything would be shiny and new.

In fact, just about everything I currently carry would fit -- except my DVD's.

Anything New that had an Old-fashioned feel would be fair game.

I'm pretty sure most people with this idea would limit themselves -- but I'd go in whole bunch of directions.

For instance, have a heavy brass and mahogany section with all the steampunk; another brightly shiny metal and heavy plastic for my retro-futuristic section; another plastic, day glow section for my 50's style section; a paisley tapestry and candles for my Hippie section; a faux stonework medieval/fantasy section, and so on.

Obviously, I'd need a very big store, lots of money, and hip employees who stayed around for awhile.


I've come up with probably dozens of ideas for stores over the last 32 years -- but all of them run up against a problem.

There be only one of me, and I have my hands full.