mossypants

welcome to The Gift Shop!


Growing up, I'd sometimes spend the day with my grandmother as she worked at the gift shop. I can still smell the potpourri of cardstock, candies, porcelain, and, well, potpourri.






Beanie Babies


One of the biggest draws to her store back in the day were Beanie Babies. At their peak, they were gold. It was like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, with friends turning on each other, overcome by greed.

Such a thing happened to my grandma and me. One of her friends agreed to a trade: one of my Beanie Babies for a specific one of hers: Kiwi the toucan. (I thought toucans were really cool. Still do, actually.) We gave her mine and waited. She had excuses for awhile, but eventually she just stopped returning my grandma's calls.




Pictured: Actual photo of Beanie Baby prospectors at my grandma's gift shop.



Among my favourites were the cats. I loved the rhyming-named ones: Nip, Chip, Flip, Snip, and Zip. Nip and Zip had variations, with some being rarer than others.

I also loved the bunnies, like Hippity.




greeting cards



         Pikachu working a jackhammer in front of a black-and-yellow hazard saw horse with the words under construction


to do list

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Image of skull, with scrolling text: Horror Gif Necronomicon. Halloween Gifs. Halloween Midis. For your site. Red no circle over a cigarette. Text reads: Thank you for not smoking at this website. Photo of two isopods with a white geometric border. Overlaid text reads: [heart character] isopods. They Might Be Giants Dial-A-Song logo. Text reads: dial a song Animation of real cat walking up to the viewer against a blue and green geometric background Animation of the Sun moving behind Earth. Text reads: Are you ready for Year 2000 Medieval illustration of a calico cat
Google Chrome is Evil. To the right is a rotating, circumscribed pentacle. Image of Stinky from the video game Animal Crossing. Text reads: Stinky Now! 2.0 I survived Y2K
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