Archie McPhee
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Novelty merchandise |
| Predecessor | Accoutrements |
| Founded | July 1983 in Seattle, Washington, United States |
| Founder | Mark Pahlow |
| Headquarters | Seattle , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Mark Pahlow (owner) |
| Products | Novelty merchandise, including rubber chickens, glow-in-the-dark extraterrestrials, bacon-scented air fresheners, hula-girl swizzle sticks, librarian action figures |
| Owner | Mark Pahlow |
| Website | archiemcphee |
Archie McPhee is a novelty merchandise company headquartered in Seattle, owned by Mark Pahlow. The business began in the 1970s as a Los Angeles-based mail-order operation called Accoutrements. Its inaugural retail location opened in 1983 in Seattle's Fremont district, taking its name from the great-uncle of Pahlow's wife.
History
In the 1970s, Mark Pahlow initiated sales of unusual novelty products through mail order under the Accoutrements brand in Los Angeles. The enterprise established its first physical store in July 1983 within Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, operating under the Archie McPhee name. By 1996, the company had set up its central warehouse and administrative offices in a business park located in Mukilteo. The retail shop moved to a more spacious venue in Ballard in 1999 and expanded by purchasing an adjacent liquor store, which was transformed into "More Archie McPhee," focusing on home decoration items. In 2009, the business reduced its retail footprint by relocating to a smaller site in Wallingford.
Products
Initially focused on rubber chicken novelties, the product range diversified to include items such as glow-in-the-dark extraterrestrials, bacon-fragranced air fresheners, and hula-girl swizzle sticks, among various other quirky goods. The store became a favored attraction for visitors to Seattle while maintaining an alternative cultural vibe, highlighted by the 1993 debut of Ben & Jerry's Wavy Gravy ice cream at an event held on the premises.
The brand’s kitschy charm attracted nationwide attention with its Librarian Action Figure. In 2002, after librarian Nancy Pearl acknowledged the importance of librarians’ everyday contributions, she modeled for a 13 cm hard plastic figurine equipped with a "push-button shushing feature," which elicited reactions from librarians worldwide.
Archie McPhee has been acknowledged in Scientific AmericanTemplate:'s "Technology and Business" section and was listed among Time magazine's fifty coolest websites in 2005. In 2018, the company launched the Rubber Chicken Museum at its Wallingford store.
See also
Further reading
- Mark Pahlow with Gibson Holub and David Wahl, Who Would Buy This? The Archie McPhee Story, Seattle: The Accoutrements Publishing Co., 2008, .