Echo Part Travel Mart

February 29, 2008 10:52 AM

Need some barbarian repellent ? How about some leeches? You can get it all at the Echo Park Time Travel Mart. They travel time so you don't have to.
posted by Doohickie (21 comments total)

I hope that #*!@ works better than the worthless damned can of grue repellent I picked up last week.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:56 AM on February 29, 2008

Yay, it's open! (Previously) Not really a double since Echo Park wasn't developed yet and there are fun pics. Thanks dh.
posted by Miko at 10:56 AM on February 29, 2008

I saw that a few days ago and saw it mentioned in 2006, and I think I assumed it had been posted here already. Cool as hell.
posted by cashman at 10:57 AM on February 29, 2008

Also, awesome.
posted by Miko at 10:58 AM on February 29, 2008

So would this be Echo Park, California? It would be cool to seem them set up some more branches elsewhere.
posted by pandemic at 11:03 AM on February 29, 2008

I think its unconscionable that there isn't a big sign out front listing very clearly the time, day, date, year, century, current president and latitude and longitude of the store.
posted by Skorgu at 11:06 AM on February 29, 2008

They do have more branches. This is 826 National. Seems weird that the OP didn't mention The Big Deal: this is the retail front of a literary nonprofit.
posted by artifarce at 11:23 AM on February 29, 2008

I guess the original post refers to everything about the company (except the time travel part obviously).
posted by artifarce at 11:24 AM on February 29, 2008

Too twee for my tastes.
posted by Paid In Full at 11:28 AM on February 29, 2008

Whenever you are, we're already then.

They had me with "Whenever."

Mmmm.. Mammoth Chunks.
posted by not_on_display at 11:31 AM on February 29, 2008

Been there, done that.
posted by mosk at 11:31 AM on February 29, 2008

Going to be there, done that.
posted by wendell at 11:34 AM on February 29, 2008

Seems to me that a store catering to time travelers could really cut down their overhead by only being open one day.

Ever.
posted by dersins at 11:49 AM on February 29, 2008 [7 favorites]

But Dersins! They tried that once, and the lines at the checkout were terrible! They handed out numbers to everyone who showed up and did some math and decided they needed to be open five days a week for about twenty years in order to serve everyone in an efficient and timely manner.

This had the added benefit of helping those budget travelers whose chronosextants haven't the accuracy to land them at any particular day and time.
posted by kaibutsu at 12:21 PM on February 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

Desperately needs a books section with copies of Dr. Dan Streetmentioner's Time Traveller's Handbook of 1001 Tense Formations.
posted by jedicus at 12:55 PM on February 29, 2008

When I travel back in time I plan to be like Rimbaud in Africa with his fortune in gold wire wrapped around his waist, except my fortune will be of much more valuable aluminum wire.
posted by StickyCarpet at 1:06 PM on February 29, 2008

Wow, so the storefront is actually real? I would sooo visit that if I could figure out how to get there.
I would love to own a can of mammothchunks!
posted by batgrlHG at 6:00 PM on February 29, 2008

On one hand I also look at that stuff and think, "Wow, we Americans really do have far too much disposable income and are far too infatuated with our own twee cleverness. Ack."

But on the other hand, I wish I had them as a graphic design client. Because I could do some kick-ass packaging for that store.

So... there ya go.
posted by miss lynnster at 10:05 AM on March 1, 2008

we Americans really do have far too much disposable income and are far too infatuated with our own twee cleverness

Does everybody get that this 'store' is actually a front for a kids' literacy tutoring program started by Dave Eggers and friends? Check the "previously" link in my first comment.
posted by Miko at 10:35 AM on March 1, 2008

Does everybody get that this 'store' is actually a front for a kids' literacy tutoring program

Yeah, that!

Here's links to the other storefronts:
Pirate Store (SF)
Superhero Supply Co. (NYC)
Boring Store (Chicago)
Space Travel Supply Store (Seattle) (I volunteer here so of course it is the best one)

And it looks like these stores are opening soon:
Monster Union Local 826 (Ann Arbor)
Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute
posted by lemuria at 5:08 PM on March 1, 2008

Yeah, I'm fully aware that it's a front for 826 Valencia. I'm signed up to volunteer for them, and I'm all for charity. My comment had nothing to do with that, I just think a lot of the Eggers/McSweeney's design stuff is just overly precious and in love with itself sometimes... while simultaneously kind of wishing I was hired to design it. So I always have conflicting reactions to it.

Charity is great, I'm not talking about that.
posted by miss lynnster at 10:55 PM on March 1, 2008