What is the most specific physical store you have encountered?
Today I was in a part of town I never have before.
I saw a store JUST for badminton.
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I just bumped into another oddly specific store: Darts Central in SF
there's a store in seattle called The Purple Store that only sells purple stuff!!!
Tennis rackets and Kites
Rubber stamp store. Just shelf after shelf of rubber stamps and rubber stamp accessories.
Wouldn't be a surprise somewhere in Japan, but still pretty cool!
Childhood me gasped. We loved stamps!!
The royal we?
Me and my twin. I just use we a lot cause of that.
Screws. A whole shop especially for screws and nuts, and you could buy bigger boxes, or smaller boxes, or only one or two, and they took their time to give advice, always with the same friendliness and helpfulness, whether you left a few cents or some real money.
I wouldn't go in there often, but I'd be grateful for it when I did.
We have a 'Mr Gwint' shop in my city ('gwint' means 'thread' in Polish, and the word is probably familiar to The Witcher players). They mainly sell various fastenings, but also tools and other related stuff. They have a big note on the door 'Only wholesale, no retail. Only full packaging.' But whenever I went there and asked for some screws, they would sell me much less than the full package. Friendly (to the Polish standards, that is) and helpful, unlike the sign on the door. But I wouldn't dare asking for just one or two basic screws.
Würth?
I think my favorite is Nothing Bundt Cakes that sells Bundt cakes. It's a chain, and yes I only like it because of the pun.
A good pun will get me in the door every time.
And the delicious cakes will keep you coming back.
I have read it is 'nothing but burned cakes' and thought, that this quite specific and weird.
I came across a very narrow, 5 story store in Japan, a bit off the beaten path in Akihabara, selling exclusively N scale model trains. They had a floor or two dedicated just to the models, another one for scenery, and at least one just for repair parts for your trains. It was really cool to get to see a store that was pretty clearly a passion project for the owner(s) apparently doing well, and filling quite the niche in the hobby (I imagine)
An entire store full of african-american romance novels. In a VERY white area. It did not stay open long 😞
The existence of that store feels more like a statement than a business decision
What statement do you suppose they were trying to make?
https://youtu.be/ilsef7LrrYw?is=HrIRX-yHF2gJ8dxa
In all seriousness, I didn't take the time to really think it through before, but: the store chose a narrow market and went out of business rather quickly, so it didn't have a good business plan; but it would make an interesting statement to see that store close so fast compared to bookstores which sell romance novels with characters likely to match their clients' race, which might reveal a sort of widespread casual racism. Or just that readers prefer characters they think they will relate to more strongly. It's an interesting conversation point whichever way you look at it, is my point.
I've been in a Christmas store that all year long only sold Christmas stuff.
I used to live in Lancaster, PA and the outlets had one of these. I've only ever seen the one, but I was given to understand they are a chain.
True story. My niece went into a Christmas shop in our home town looking for a nativity set.
Assistant: "A what?"
"A nativity set - you know, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus..."
Assistant: "What's Jesus got to do with Christmas?"
There are at least three of them in Germany.
My town has a mushroom shop.
Bah, Morrowind has a ton of shops in mushrooms too, a lot of cities have several
In Turkey we have shops that only sell pickles!
I could be into that. A good pickle is something to behold.
Those stores that only sell Rubber Duckies come to mind.
There are several, for some unknown reason, in Amsterdam.
It's because of the river, duhh
We live at the same river, but I have yet to find a rubber duck store anywhere closer than Amsterdam - which is hundreds of kilometers from here.
I was being facetious, because otherwise there would be rubber duck stores at every river. Also it would be an environmental disaster if the ducks were for the river
It's very recently closed its doors, sadly, but you'd be hard pressed to find a more specific shop than long-time Edinburgh landmark, Borland's:
I used to live across the street from a ballbearing shop.
Must take some balls to open one of them.
Cycling clothing. No bikes, no helmets, just more lycra than a gimp convention.
spirit halloween seems just the place for a certain one night event.
For some of us, Halloween is not a night, but a way of life.
indeed. that's how the store stays alive 😄
I had to go to a store that only sells custom made stirrups as my kid needed some for their horse. I was absolutely overwhelmed about how many differences there are about them. Kid was happy.
I’ve been in a knitting store before. Just yarn and needles and patterns. I can’t imagine how they stay in business.
There are lots of those. Many people knit.
yep, I have two in the family, it just didn't seem like there could be enough knitter-foot-traffic to keep the place open selling $4 spools of yarn
That's because the skeins are $40.
It's been a long time since I've bought a skein of yarn, but surely one can get one for less than that.
hits Amazon
It looks like on Amazon, they start at about $4 individually. If you get a pack, it goes under $1/skein.
Those brick-and-mortar stores much have a pretty substantial markup, unless we're talking premium yarn of some sort.
Yes, it's not acrylic baby-melting trash. You're comparing McDonald's to omakase. Try visiting your local yarn store before making any more assumptions.
Looking over at the lantern moon knitting needles and the merino wool skeins nervously, as though they'll start tattling on their costs!
Is that... uncommon? There was one in the town I grew up in.
Actually I looked it up and it also sold thread, ribbons and stuff like that. I guess you'd call it a haberdashery. Maybe one just for wool is less common?
Haberdashery? Poppycock!
Those are fairly common in North America and in a lot of places in Europe are found everywhere. Knitting is having a resurgence with young people.
haberdashers are still relatively common in the UK.
Batteries + Bulbs.
They sold nothing but batteries and lightbulbs.
I went there once because I needed a specific type of light bulb. But it wasn't in their inventory. So I don't even think of that place anymore when I need bulbs. Anyway they're rather small stores. How could they possibly stock all the millions of varieties of those two specific things? Spoiler: they don't.
I never went in for bulbs, but they certainly had a wide range of batteries. They were more reliable than Walmart or other places when I would need a random button style battery, like a CMOS or watch battery.
I don't know about yours but I had a very similar store near me years ago, which was exclusively batteries but then eventually expanded into bulbs as well.
There's a bunch of oddball stores in the Pike Place Market in Seattle but the Left Hand store was the most specific place. All left hand tools and stuff. Lots of different scissors.
I visited Pike Place in 2005 with my best friend and his wife, I had a horrible head cold and could not enjoy anything about the place. Sounds like I need to get back so I can visit the Left Hand store.
there are a lot of things to smell, like its a lot sometimes. especially if you arent feeling very well. they have expanded the market. No more car traffic on the street outside it and they expanded and built up the area closer to the waterfront, because the viaduct is gone. Many of the old school stuff is still there though. Make sure to give yourself a full day to explore, its a massive and confusing place
There used to be a store in my town called “Just Socks” that sold, just socks
If there's still one around somewhere, should open up a competitor across the street that deals only in cheap counterfeits of the brands they sell and call it Unjust Socks.
It’s not super specific, and makes sense for where I saw it, but I’ll never forget the Wisconsin tourist trap I drove past as a kid that has a big sign out front advertising “Cameras, Cheese and Guns”.
Art Smart's Dart Mart and Juggling Emporium in Milwaukee.
of course it's on Brady. of course it is
I have not, myself, been there, but San Francisco has the Pirate Supply Store.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/826_Valencia
We had a store that sold only pirate costumes here. For real.
https://piratefashions.com/
I have been in a shop only for set equipment for cooking book pictures
Me too. In Japan.
I have seen lots of niche stores, but what usually gets me is that they're in very premium locations. How is that empty Custom Umbrella Emporium still open while the packed coffee shop next door can't afford their lease?
::: spoiler Tap for spoiler Money laundering, probably :::
Synthesizer store. RIP to Seattle's Patchwerks. Such a damn shame they went out of business.
There’s a delicious little shop in my city that sells all types of synths, cassette players, custom pedals and circuit bent goodies.
We have a fairly robust noise and experimental scene here that loves them so they get lots of patronage but I’m going to cry if they ever go out of business.
I fucking love synthesizers
There's a chain of shops in my country that, at least for a while, pretty much only made and sold bean bags. Freaking fantastic ones, too.
I went into a store that specialized in selling canes when I visited London.
It sounds really British to pay a visit to the local canist when you find yourself needing a new cane, who is a super detailed professional who knows and supplies canes of all kinds to all walks of life
I'm sure that would have made a great Monty Python scetch
There was a store in Vegas that was magnets. Fridge, city, anything magnets.
And sardine stores in Portugal, airports and elsewhere.
There's a "craft"-art shop in the same cave I work in that exclusively sells racism.
Damn what a waste of cool damp cave
Name and shame man
... there's a cave with shops?
Disc Golf Mart in Columbus, Ohio.
Oh that reminds me of a spot in Connecticut I think. It was a headshop down stairs and discgolf shop upstairs. With a sometimes skate shop in a room next to the discgolf stuff.
There’s a small town I drive through frequently that, for many years, had a Christmas shop. It was always open, usually empty. It closed down last year.
Mixed tape store. This was like 12 years ago, long after streaming was a thing. A buddy of mine went in and asked if they sold CDs and the guy legit said, "No. Just mixed tapes." Pretty sure it was a front for something.
There's a store not too far from me that sells rabbits and guinea pigs, and accessories for them. That's it. Need cat food? A leash for your dog? Fuck off, is not a 'pet' store, lol
There are quite a few shops like that for reptiles, likely because of the special care requirements.
On the one hand, you don't want a minimum-wage no-training staffer who cam barely keep a hamster fed killing a $4000 lizard by not setting the heat and humidity right.
On another, it's sort of weird to sell pet and feeder rodents together.
In County Cork in Ireland I once saw a shop that was a "Gentleman's hairdresser and railway bookshop."
My favorite was Wizard's welding and hair salon, sadly closed now.
The Catholic gift shop near me that's open like 8 hours a week. Maybe it's money laundering.
Envios a Cuba, some shops here just send items to Cuba for you. Only to Cuba, only from here
Probably Pop Mart. A three-story shop filled with nothing but these odd little collectible toys of cartoon characters. It was absolutely mobbed.
Saw a store that was just rubber ducks. They had celebrity ducks and colored ducks and all sorts of similar things.
At least three of them in Amsterdam, for whatever reasons. Independent stores, not multiple shops from one company.
Magic stores.
San Francisco has two of them: Misdirections, a store that's been there for decades, and Houdini's/Vanishing Inc. in touristy Pier 39 who have a second location near Disneyland.
Also, the San Francisco Archery Shop seems very specialized in this age of big box sporting goods stores, but again they've been around for decades it feels like.
The Bee Healthy Honey Shop in Oakland, selling honey, beeswax, and related products and also beekeeping equipment. It's run by a Yemeni family of beekeepers.
Childhood me loved magic stores, the best one I found was in Victoria BC
As a former archer there are a number of archery shops! I went to one place to buy something and found it very strange that it was just in a row of about 8 shops as part of a small housing estate's little "high street" - alongside a takeaway, tattoo parlour, beauty salon, funeral director - the kind of thing you need a lot more of than archery shops!
It's moved now, I assume something more normal has taken its old spot...
We had a bee shop at the fair yesterday.
japan. anywhere in japan
I've been in not one, but three different round the year Christmas stuff stores.
There is a chain of stores in Europe only selling Gouda cheese (Henri Willig).
In Hamburg I've been in a shop specialized on umbrellas.
In Rotterdam I've found a shop selling only socks.
Stores that sell clothes branded with one college's logo / name.
Saw that in Cambridge (the original one, in UK), and they had insane prices. We went to the market, and found the same shirt for a quarter of the price.
A glove shop in Lisbon.
The Glow In the Dark Cat Shop
You'll never guess what it sells
https://shop-york.co.uk/places/cats/
Well, that's an incredibly disappointing store ... :(
Exactly my thoughts when i checked it out.
Kite store in Chicago (it's really not that windy there, really)
I have a container that is specifically used to store my flour.
https://youtu.be/BfnfOdQVHAQ
90’s throwback. Of note - Stacks of Slax and the Bolt Bloke.
Do the running stores that are popping up everywhere count
I guess underwear stores are pretty specific?