About a year ago Dana Rubinstein of The Brooklyn Paper wrote a story about Penguin Place. It came out before we had the new website and this blog space, so for your penguin reading pleasure here it is.
The world's largest online penguin paraphernalia retailer -- Brooklyn's
own "Penguin Place" -- is so ruffled by a Hollywood-inspired explosion
in penguin competition, that he's re-tooling his Web site.
"In a couple of years I went from being the only online penguin store, to one of a few," said
Eric Bennett, referring to the impact that the hit movies, "March
of the Penguins", Surf's Up" and "Happy Feet," had on his business. "The penguin
pie got bigger, but my sales have struggled just to stay the same." Bennett, an average-sized, youthful looking, dad-about-DUMBO, has operated his home based
www.penguin-place. com for about 10 years. But, this is the first time his
dominion over the online penguin paraphernalia business has been
challenged. Or even, frankly, noticed.
In response to competition Bennett, 47, will re-launch his ancient by internet standards web site later this month.
"My present 'Penguin Place' is ... very cute and quaint, and everyone
likes it, but it was built in 1997 and for the internet that's like
driving a Model T in the left lane of the interstate. Folks are
speeding past me on their way to the mall," he said.
Bennett has been in the business of selling penguin bric-a-brac for
over 20 years, his Web site preceded by actual retail outlets at South
St. Seaport in NYC and Harborplace in Baltimore.
Since 1997, he's run his Web site out of what he's dubbed "The Igloo"
-- a home office on the fifth floor of a decrepit old factory that some
call the "DUMBO Museum" for its apparent refusal to go luxury, like the
rest of its neighbors in Brooklyn's new SoHo.
The Igloo itself harkens back to a less orderly, pre-bar code age: An
old refridgerator is home to a small rookery of penguin stuffed
animals, penguin costumes hang from old pipes that run along the
ceiling, while boxes on shelves erupt with penguin onesies, T-shirts,
slippers, wallpaper border, and less mundane penguin items, like the
Waddling Penguin Pooper -- which, after you wind it up, deposits small
brown plastic candies from its behind (yes, it's a big seller).
One of the few penguin items not for sale is a bottle of Penguin Ale
given him by Rex Hunt, the former governor of the Falkland Islands,
home to the Rockhopper penguin.
Some of Bennett's most ardent buyers include members of the big city
philharmonics (apparently, because they resemble penguins in their
tuxedos and bowties), and a running group for overweight people called
"The Waddlers."
Bennett's entanglement with the Gentoos and Blackfoots of the world
began when he was a freshman at Queens College and dating his "first
real girlfriend."
"She liked gymnastics, the ballet, and she also liked penguins," said
Bennett. "Me being a normal 18-year-old guy, I had a choice, ballet
tickets or penguins. I started getting her penguins. And she
reciprocated. It sort of became known amongst our friends and family
that penguins were our thing. "When we split up in my junior year, I
had a major foothold in penguin paraphernalia," said Bennett.
A couple of years after graduating, Bennett visited Boston's Quincy
Market, which had just been revamped and was flush with stores selling
all manner of kitschy stuff.
There was an all pig shop called Hog Heaven, the Cow Pit with its stuffed cows and bovine salt-and-pepper
shakers, The Lefty Shop and even a unicorn store filled with "mythological things." So when
the South Street Seaport opened in New York a year later,
Bennett visited the Seaport and "on a dare from a friend" submitted an application to open a penguin
pushcart history was made.
And so, on May 15, 1985, "Next Stop South Pole" was hatched. The
ex-girlfriend, now a theater set designer designed the cart, and
Bennett filled it with penguin items he'd bought from toy and gift trade shows.
"The first week, my parents and grandparents would pull up chairs about 20 feet away,
near the food court, and just watch, because they couldn't comprehend
what I was doing. They needed to see me selling penguins for a living with their own eyes." said Bennett.
Soon, he moved into a kiosk, and then into a store on Pier 17. He
eventually had another location in Baltimore, seasonal carts in Miami and
Colorado, a mail-order catalog and a quarterly magazine about penguins
called "The Penguin Post."
Along the way, Bennett nurtured his love for penguins -- he says, "I've
never met a penguin or penguin lover I didn't like, which is more than I can say for
most people I've met."
Meanwhile, Bennett has had to adapt to a shifting business climate. In
the 1990s, as the rest of the city became more tourist friendly, South
Street Seaport lost its luster. And, the Internet grew. Soon, he ran
his business entirely online.
"By 2000, I was grossing more on-line than I was as a retail shop at the Seaport," said Bennett.
The ex-girlfriend, the progenitor of Bennett's penguin fixation, and
now a purchaser of merchandise for Disney theme parks, said she's not
surprised by Bennett's success.
"He definitely has an enterprising sort of spirit, so he's able to make it work," said the former flame, Robin Feinsot.
Bennett was typically humble about his accomplishments.
"I was 24 when I came up with the penguin concept," said Bennett. "The year before I thought a spooky carwash was a good idea."
Well, one out of two ain't bad.
A couple of weeks ago I sent out an order to a woman in California for her kids penguin themed birthday party. It was a fairly extensive order and from what she ordered it looked like it was going to be a very cool penguin party, but unfortunately I was out of stock of one item (10 penguin putty's). So, after calling my distributer and getting assurances that they would ship the penguin putty's out to me in a couple of days, I was able to promise my customer with confidence that the putty's would make in plenty of time for the party, and it was aggreed that they would be backordered. Everything was going according to plan. The putty's arrived here on schedule on the 7th and the Priority Mail web site told me the package would make it to the west coast by the 9th. So, with the party scheduled for the 12th I that the penguin putty's would arrive in plenty of time and this kids penguin party would be complete. Unfortunately, things are not so cut and dry when it comes to the USPS, and to my sad surprise my customer e-mailed me on the 16th to explain that the putty's finally arrived that day, a full 4 days after the party. Of course the USPS website showed that the package arrived on the 9th as did their customer service representative insist. Unfortunately, I didn't send the package signature confirmation, my reason being that if no one was home to sign for the package when it arrived it might be returned or end up on USPS limbo. So, faced with the reality that the putty's were 4 days late and of course believing my customer that they were indeed late. I proceeded to apologize and offer to send a return label for the tardy penguin putty's that were originally meant for the fun penguin party goody bags, but the mom of the penguin loving girl told me she'd keep them and that they'll come in handy for some gifts and treats in the future. We then began to talk about the party and our kids, after about 10 minutes I apologized for the tardy penguins one last time and bid her a good day. That night at dinner I told my 5 year old daughter Sophie the story of the missing penguin putty's that were suppose to arrive for this little girls birthday party. Sophie is very interested in kids birthday parties as well as goodie bags. She asked me all sorts of questions about the party, most of which I couldn't answer because I had no details other than it was a penguin themed party and that it was missing some penguin putty. So, the next morning I sent an e-mail to the mom telling her my daughter was interested in the party and if she wouldn't mind sharing some party details with me. Later that day I received an e-mail of a wild, crazy and fun penguin slumber party which I shared with Sophie to her utter delight.
After another e-mail and getting permission from this west coast penguin loving family to publish the party details you can now share in this waddling merriment as well. Here's the e-mail in its entirety. "I don't know how old your sophie is, but my emily is turning 11 on friday. i hope sophie is of an age where a description of emily's party will be interesting:
it was a penguin-themed slumber party extravaganza with 10 girls. there were penguin decorations everywhere (lights, figurines, black & white balloons [with a few orange for the beak], stuffed animal penguins perched on every available surface -- you get the picture). all the girls were dressed in black & white, and they wore penguin masks. we had penguin-shaped ice cubes in the drinks, penguin napkins, black plates and white utensils. emily designed her own penguin birthday cake, which was a real work of art, if i do say so myself.
the girls painted penguin figurines in exotic colors (neon pinks and greens, for eg -- remember this is san francisco) and drank delicious penguin hot chocolate. and then, because it was freakishly hot last saturday night, we decided to take everyone out in their p.j.s and slippers at 10 p.m. for a neighborhood stroll. emily of course had to bring her giant 5-foot-tall inflatable emperor penguin ("herman") along. the girls hoisted him aloft at the head of the procession and chanted, over and over again, "power to the penguin" -- quite vociferously, i might add. passing cars honked their horns in penguin solidarity, and people called down approvingly from their upstairs windows. a bus passed by, and a lone woman wearing a long bridal veil waved to the girls with a gloved hand. a group of buddhist monks, their robes glowing orange in the dark, passed by with big smiles; one of them was pushing an infant in a pram (since when do monks have babies, sophie?). we came to a playground and the girls raced around in the dark, shrieking with joy, spinning on a giant tire swing and hurling themselves down the slide. emily's dad and i understood that these 10 girls are straddling that fine line between childhood and middle school, and we got a little sniffly watching them play with such abandon. and then, (maybe you should edit this part for sophie, eric) all 10 girls spontaneously decided to moon the moon, which they did (along with several cars passing on oak street, probably.) luckily no one was arrested. it was an enchanted night, and quite surreal.
the girls stayed up until 5 a.m., and then woke promptly at 7. we had a gorgeous breakfast (sticky cinnamon rolls and cold pizza -- yum) and reminisced about the night's adventures. when the girls left, they each got a party bag with penguin pencils, penguin key chains, penguin gummi candies, penguin mood rings, penguin stickers, penguin parachutists, penguin hot chocolate packets, and caramels. the bags were quite stuffed, so it was o.k. that we didn't have the penguin putty!"
maybe if sophie likes penguins too, and if she's old enough (and young enough), she can have her own penguin slumber party someday! we will be happy to advise you on the finer points of such an enterprise.
hope this answers most of sophie's questions!
A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from a college film student named Samantha Polan. It went something like this. Hi Eric,
How are you? Wow, I must say that I love Penguins and I love your
site. My name is Samantha and I'm a film student at Florida State
University, I am coming to New York this week to do a documentary
about independent businesses owners who have found their own
niche in the retail world. I would love to interview you and learn more
about The Igloo. I am so intrigued by your business and your reasons
for starting your business. I know this is so soon, but I just found
you tonight and are very excited at the prospect of getting to meet
with you! Please get back to me as soon as possible, I will be in the
city March 11th and can come by and meet with you. Hope to hear from
you soon.Thank you, Samantha Polan. How could I say anything but yes.
Samantha and her crew of two showed up on the 11th and what was suppose to be a one afternoon shoot turned into 3 days of filming and interviewing. They even blew off their other projects to continue working on the Penguin Place story. Her idea is to make the 7 minute documentary school project and then edit a half hour film to shop around and possibly show at film festivals. So far I've not seen a frame of footage, but as this is probably a final class project it should be ready sometime in May.
A couple of weeks ago I received a call from a man who claimed to be
wondering around outside our Penguin Place HQ building here at 220
Water St in Brooklyn. The man said he was searching for Penguin Place
but it looked like he was in front of an abandoned building and there's
nothing to indicate that there's a penguin shop there. I
told him he's at the right place, he should stay put and I promptly went
down stairs to fetch him. Upon finding a large man with a big grin
and a Texas accent on the sidewalk outside I ushered him inside and while walking up the
five flights of stairs to my igloo he introduced himself as Calvin
Skidmore, he went on to explain that he had phoned in an order about 8 years
ago, and at the time was in desperate need of receiving his penguins
right away as it was for his girlfriends birthday that same week. He also told me that when he phoned in the order nearly a decade ago he was having some credit card issues, but he had assured me he'd send a check for the penguin order that very same day. Well,
usually I don't operate that way at Penguin-Place.com, but Calvin must
have been very persuasive and i must have been in a very good mood because
according to Calvin that's the way the deal went down. Except for the fact that I sent him the
penguins, but Calvin did not send a check that day, nor did he the day after or ever. Calvin then went on to
tell me that in the course of the next 24 - 48 hours after his phone
order with me all those years ago he lost his job, his girlfriend and
all sorts of "other stuff" he'd didn't want get into. So, although his
penguins arrived a couple of days later, his check for $78.85 did
not. Nor, did it ever arrive. A couple of weeks later when I
attempted to phone Calvin at the number he left us his phone had been
disconnected with no forwarding number. So, as far as I was concerned
short of hiring a bounty hunter that was that. But, Calvin told me
that he had indeed gone through some very hard times that all began
right after he placed the penguin order although he could see no direct
correlation between his string of bad luck and the penguins. But, he
went on that he had never forgotten the trust, kindness and cool
penguins that had offered him unconditionally all those years ago.
These days things are going much better for Calvin and he was in New
York on business and to see Yankee Stadium before they tore it down. He
told me that he didn't want to just mail me a check, but he wanted to
pay me in person and thank me for sending him his penguins on trust all
those years ago. I told him i knew all along he'd pay up all along,
although i just barely remember the whole non-transaction. We chatted, he looked around and we took a picture together in front of my penguins in the refrigerator display (left over from my brick and morter days), and he
purchased an XXL Penguin Of Liberty T-shirt which I added to his
initial bill. His total from his original charge and the shirt he
purchased came to $95.80 without interest or penalties, and
he settled up with his Gold Visa Card. Now, I'm just waiting for Calvin
to e-mail the picture he took of us with his digital camera. It might
be waiting a while.
I love gold as much as the next guy, but with the price of gold skyrocketing to $900 an ounce and counting, we sadly cannot continue to keep offering our solid 22 kt gold wrap around penguin ring. It's just too expensive to keep them in stock, and the way the price is going we'd have to keep raising the price ever week. A year ago it was selling for $199.95, then we raised it $50 and if we kept in stock now it'd go for around $500.
So, unless there's a big demand for $500 penguin rings we'll keep this penguin ring on hiatus for the time being. Of course we still have the silver penguin ring.
If you love snow, penguins and ice hockey as I do I'm sure you were
watching with absolute glee the New Years Day outdoor snow game in Buffalo
between the Sabres and Penguins. Yes, they really played a professional hockey outdoors in the snow,
and in front of 71,000 fans in a football stadium to boot. To say it was
very fun to watch is an understatement, it was a non-stop hoot. I'm now thinking that all NHL
arena's should have snowmaking machines and turn them on whenever
there's a dull game is going on (which there is no shortage of these days). Nuetral zone trap, no end to end
action, only a dozen shots on goal for both teams combined in a
scoreless game at the midway point, just turn on the snow and you've gone from yawner to a rip roaring good time. But, for me what made this game extra special was the Penguins once again wearing their 1970's throwback powder
blue uniforms. I broke the news about a month ago in my blog titled
The Penguins Are Back In Town that the Pens may be going back to their
old powder blues when they finally move into their new arena in 2009, and after
getting a 21st century sneak peak of these cool and unique looking uniforms during the Buffalo snow game I'm sure hoping they do. They
looked great and best of all the Penguins won the game.
Well folks it's Christmas Eve here at penguin central, and to state the obvious, Merry Christmas one and all. As usual these past 8 weeks have gone by like the blink of a penguins eye, with my sidekick Jake and myself manning our stations for about 15 hours a day (12 hours a day in November and 14-16 in December) to get everyones penguin orders out and to their destinations in time for the holidays. Just to toot our own beaks I'm proud to say that this year we topped our old record 99.65% stellar on-time penguin delivery rate with a new record 99.85% successful on-time delivery tally (and we were steroid free). Sadly, our perfect season was thwarted when UPS dropped the ball on an overnight package to upstate NY on Friday, and a Priority Mail box was pilferred off a porch in Philly last week. I know there were a couple of international orders that were touch and go as of Friday but I'm cautiously optomistic that they made it, as I didn't hear from any irate foreigners today. With Christmas falling this year just after a weekend, the urgency to get out last minute orders dried up for us by Friday, so I was actually able to leave the "igloo" for an extended period for the first time in weeks, venture forth into the world and shop for presents for my family. It really is a weird feeling after doing nothing but taking orders, making labels, packing penguins, tracking orders, stocking, re-stocking, etc., for all my waking hours for two months, and then being let out into the world. But I'm sure I'll adjust. I don't know how many of you have ever been to my Penguin Place igloo, but other than the fact that it's filled with penguins, it's not the most exciting place in the world. In fact some folks find it a tad depressing. We're talking about a 500 square foot windowless former artists' sculpture studio, with concrete floors and ceiling and 12 foot high walls, in an old factory building on the Brooklyn waterfront. The one huge redeeming part (other than it's filled with penguins) is that it's the back part of the loft that my family and I live in, so even when I busy working most of the day, I get to see my wife and two little girls whenever I want. But there have been plenty of days these past couple of months that I don't see too much actual daylight. I rationalize by telling myself, hey if the penguins in Antarctica can go without sunshine for months at a time, then so can I.
Of course, without my sidekick Jake it wouldn't be much fun at all. Jake is a buddy and part-time assistant movie director for indie films here in NYC, and lately part time has been extremely part time, which means he's been very happy to be my penguin helper and sidekick whenever the penguin holiday shopping season rolls around. Good thing for me the movie business is so fickle, as we all love having Jake around. He's funny, a great helper and an all around good guy, and I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather spend two months with in a windowless room, selling penguins (professionally speaking). In fact he's become so much part of my family (penguins and otherwise) lately that my six month old daughter Rose may be a bit mixed up as to who's her daddy. Fortunately, the rest of my family is not as confused, but it's still as good a reason as any to give Jake the sack. Actually, Jake is starting grad school in a couple of weeks and sadly his penguin elf career may be coming to an end along with his employee of the month streak.
Anyway, sorry I've neglected the blog for a bit, but it was either blog or get your penguins orders out the door and I choose the later.
I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and I hope all your penguin wishes come true, and if not just about everything will be on sale starting the 26th.
For quite some time, I've been trying to coax my four year old daughter Sophie into modeling some of my kids penguin gear for the website. Sure, that's her looking happy with some penguin puppet when she was 8 months old, but after years of everyone from me to my parents, aunts, uncles and cousins wanting to take her picture, looking into the lens of a camera is one of her least favorite things to do. I suppose this happens with first children sometimes, but I still wish I could have gotten her to pose with her penguin Halloween costume just once. Then a couple of weeks ago her favorite cousins (Tyler and Julia) came by for visit, and I didn't have to ask those guys twice if they wanted to be in the Penguin Place Catalog. Tyler's the boy with the big grin wearing the Kids Cozy Winter Hat and Julia is modeling the Kids Mr. Penguin Hat. Well, if seeing her older cousins on the website doesn't motivate Sophie, nothing will. The very next day Sophie pleaded with me to model a penguin hat of her own, which resulted in the fuzzy picture of a smiling Sophie donning the Kids Frosty Winter Hat. Then, wouldn't ya know it, a shipment of our new kids baby bibs arrives, which led to the first photo session of our latest hatchling, little Rose Bennett. With Rose looking extra adorable modeling both the boys and girls penguin bibs (at 5 months I figure the kid can pass either way), it wasn't long before Sophie was jolted back into action and out of her short lived penguin-voguing retirement. First, Sophie posed with our just added to the line kids penguin suspenders, which she loved so much she wore them for 48 hours straight, including while in pajamas (the suspender wearing streak was finally broken by a bath). The following morning Sophie insisted on modeling something else, anything else actually, so we tried on the new penguin apron. You can tell by Sophie's crazy "morning hair" that this picture was indeed taken first thing in the morning (also notice in the photo she's still wearing her suspenders under the apron). So now with the Kidswear section tally Sophie 3 pictures, Rose 2, and cousins Tyler and Julia one a piece, everything is as it should be as far as Sophie's world is concerned. Now, if only she'd stop wearing those suspenders to bed.
This Thanksgiving marks the 21st anniversary of what was either the largest verified flying penguin, or for some people what was the most traumatic airship mishap since the Hindenburg. I'll quote the AP wire service report from November 26th, 1986.
"Things didn't go so smoothly at Detroit's Thanksgiving Day parade early yesterday, when a 30 foot long, $15,000 helium balloon of Chilly Willy the Penguin broke away and floated off. At parade time a pilot spotted the "flightless bird" at an altitude of about 5000 feet over Detroit, said Bill Robertson, control tower manager at Windsor Airport in Ontario. After a brief stay in Canadian air space, Chilly Willy veered northwest back into Michigan. The Coast Guard later recovered Chilly in Lake St. Clair, 45 miles north."
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
It's a week to go before Thanksgiving and the "official" start of the holiday season, but the consensus here at Penguin Central is that we've been
in the "I can't believe it's almost the holidays" season for a couple of weeks now. For me these last three months has really flown (it's ironic that time can fly while penguins can't). If you combine my usual work I do preparing for the penguin holiday rush with all that it's taken to get the new Penguin Place website up and running, these last three months have gone by in a flash. For me Penguin-Place.com mach II has been an endless procession of little problems, big problems, blips, changes, corrections, touch ups, touchdowns, updates, revisions, hiccups and maybe even a burp or two thrown in for good measure. On the plus side, I actually think I've run out of things to fix, but of course just when I think I've addressed everything, I find something else that needs some tinkerling.
The latest update I'm making this weekend has to do with the infamous Login, User ID, Password thing. Personally, I can't stand them. I know, I know, it helps speed up the process of checking out (if you've got all your user id, password stuff handy).
But, if you're like me, and have a couple of different passwords for things, and can't always remember which goes with which you're in trouble. I can hardly remember where I parked my car no less what my different passwords are for amazon, google, you tube, my bank, USPS, my space, etc.
On Penguin Place, the login stuff is / was on the home page and it gave some people the impression that they had to login or register just to shop or waddle around the site, which is simply not true.
You don't have to login to shop or even check out, but penguin shoppers thought you did. So, to keep things simple, I'm taking the login off the home page, and it'll just be on the check out page from now on for frequent shoppers who want to breeze through the check out process. I've also listened to some customers who ended up stuck or stumped on the checkout page and I'm trying to make things as easy and simple as possible to get through the check out page.
Speaking of simple, my favorite P-Bay lister Warren can't seem to get the price he wants for his Chilly Willy visor. So, with the clock ticking, as he's moving in with his gal pal in two weeks and apparently that hat (as well as many other of Warren's prize possessions) must go (ah, the things we do for love), Warren has not only lowered the price and tweaked the name (he removed the word Vintage from the title), he even sent in a new picture of the hat, this time with himself wearing it at his computer. I call the photo Warren and Chilly Visor in Action. Good luck and God Bless Warren.
Speaking of P-Bay it appears to be quite a hit.
We've managed to find some loving homes for many a wayward penguin, and even had a few people listing with us that have sold some penguins. It's not a windfall, but it's been good, clean old fashion penguin fun. The only P-Bay related mishap so far was when I sold an old window display Antarctic Dominoes shirt, and thought I should wash it one more time before sending it on to its new home.
In my multi-tasking haste I mistakenly used fabric softener instead of detergent. Well, needless to say the shirt didn't come out looking too happy (although it was quite soft). I ended up sending the customer two shirts and note explaining why they were a little tie dyed looking and so extra soft.
I'm happy to report that with Black Friday a mere week away our penguin inventory and selection look to be the best we've ever offered!
At the moment we're listing 437 different penguin items and to top it off coming in later this week will be a really fun new set of indoor / outdoor penguin lights, aprons, baby bibs, place mats, dish towels, pot holders, oven mitts, clothe napkins, magnets, Australian penguin crossing signs and socks.
Also, we'll be accepting PayPal starting next week. On a more serious note, due to my over indulgence regarding our yummy chocolate penguin pops (they're really good), I've instructed my assistant Jake to hide the stash of chocolate penguins from me. From now on when we get an order that has chocolate penguin pops in it, I have to leave the room while Jake fetches penguin pops for the order.
So, far I've yet to peak but it's only been two days and I'm convinced he's eating them behind my back.
And, you thought it was all fun and games working at Penguin Place.
Oh yeah, in case you're curious, although they are birds, penguins do not taste like turkey.
Hey there sports fans, bet you didn't know that my second favorite sport is hockey, and my second
favorite hockey team is, you guessed it, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and they're in town.
Actually they've been in town for an unbelievable week now. They
arrived in NY on November 2nd for a game the following night against the
Devils, then on the 4th they bused out to Long Island for a date with the Islanders, last night they
waddled down the turnpike to play the Flyers, and tonight they're the
guests of the Rangers at MSG. That my friends is a four game, seven night
stay in the Big Apple for the Pens. This prolonged visit from the
skating hockey playing penguins of western Pa. brings back some very fond memories for me.
Back in the mid to
late 1980's, in the days
before hockey became all about big bucks, luxury boxes and free agency, a prolonged
visit like
this from the Penguins meant that many a player, their
families, coaches and even a front office exec or two would make their way down to
my Next Stop South Pole shop at the South St.
Seaport to shop. You
see back then there wasn't that much player movement between teams, many of
the players on the Penguins were there for many years, if not most of their
careers, and so
being a Penguin for these guys meant allot for them and their families. Players and their relatives often
collected penguin stuff, which was considerably more fun than if you were on the Devils.
I opened my shop in 1985 and shortly thereafter once word got out that there was an all-penguin shop at the Seaport, my
store became a must see
destination for many players, family and friends if they would be in
town for a few
days. On road trips to NY, it wasn't uncommon to have visits
from players, members of the coaching staff, front office
people, even a
GM or a certain minorty share owner would stop to shop. I even had a few regulars like seven year Penguin veteran Randy Hillier. Not to
mention the free hockey tickets I'd get thrown my way during these visits. But, alas the good penguin hockey
times did not last. Those innocent days right before free agency and big money,
before sports merchandising and marketing became as huge as the game itself.
In the
eighties the team gift shop might have consisted of some jerseys, number
one fingers, a couple of t-shirts, hats, a bumpersticker or two, and
maybe a
puck. To call them Gift Shops would be too generous, they were more like
little souvenir stands, and there were no team store mail order catalogs. Which meant that the void for any kind of fun, cute penguin item
that wasn't from the Penguins limited shop inventory was filled by me. I even once got a call from co-owner Harold Baldwin a couple
of days before Christmas for 20 penguin ties to be next day aired to the
teams front office.
Sadly, those
fun, innocent and profitable penguin hockey days of yesteryear are gone forever. The
players
in the league are basically interchangeble, and only a handful will stay
with a franchise for more than a year or two. The Penguins no longer deal
with sourvenirs, but with massive print and on-line gift catalogs that
include
everything under the sun with a Pittsburgh Penguins logo on it. Sports
merchandising in the 21st century is a multi billion, zillion dollar deal (I don't have the
actual numbers, but it's really big). Plus, to top it all off I haven't had my
shop at
the Seaport for seven years, so the players couldn't come to the Seaport for penguins even if they wanted to, and I don't anticipate finding Sydney
Crosby
wandering around the stairwell here on Water Street looking to buy some
penguin slippers before he has to go back for practice. As sad as I am
that those innocent penguin days are gone (along with my free hockey
tickets), I am happy for one thing that harkens back to those good old
days. It appears that the teams' hockey playing penguin logo is going to
be a keeper and this season he's back and bigger than ever. After
abandoning the little guy for nearly a decade the team regained its grip on reality and went
back to it's old penguin jersey logo seven years ago. The cool waddling logo began back in
1967 with the teams inception, it features a really cool looking, semi
serious hockey playing cartoon penguin with hockey gloves, ice skates,
holding a
stick and skating over a large triangle (which represents the three
rivers of
Pittsburgh). He did wear a scarf for the first season, but it was removed after a
year. I guess someone must have thought that
playing hockey while wearing a scarf could be hazardous (especially if
you're a penguin). For me,
scarf or no scarf, this is one of the great logo's in professional
sports. Quite possibly in sports history. He's just that cool. Forty years ago the Penguins jersey colors were
light
blue, navy and white, and back then the penguin skated inside a circle that ringed
around
him with the words Pittsburgh Penguins. In a few years the
the circle disappeared, but the penguin and triangle remained.
Then, in an unprecedented move, in middle of the 1980-81 the Pens changed their colors and debuted their new
color scheme: black and gold. You see two months earlier the Pittsburgh Pirates
won the World Series and the Pittsburgh Steelers had just
won their fourth Super Bowl. In keeping with the "City of
Champions" theme or simply trying to jump on the bandwagon (depending on
who you ask) the not so successful Penguins adopted black and gold as their colors. The
team has stayed black and gold ever since, but there have been rumblings
of
the Pens going back to their original colors, which may happen when the
Pens waddle into their new arena in a couple of years. But, don't hold me to it.
For the next dozen seasons everything waddled along smoothly. There was a uniform tweak or subtle change here and there, but nothing drastic. Then, in 1992 the unthinkable happened, the cool hockey playing
penguin,
my favorite mascot / logo in all of sports (sorry Mr. Met) was given the pink slip! Replaced
by some sleek, computer generated, euro trash, angular, penguin head
that looked like it
had escaped from Jaromir Jagr's worst nightmare (other than getting
traded to the Rangers). Inexplicably, the euro trash, severed penguin
head remained one the teams jerseys for eight sad, long years. But, with the dawn of a new millenium, like a frozen phoenix rising
from the snow, and just in time for their back to back Stanley Cups of 2000 and 2001, the
hockey playing penguin returned triumphantly to the front of the Pittsburgh Penguins
jerseys, this time tweaked a bit to look a
little meaner (maybe it was steroids) and a little leaner (personal trainer). But, who cared if he was a
little
crabbier and roided up? Not me. He was back and from where I stand, back for good.
This season the
NHL
has mandated changes in the design of the jersey itself, in order to make them
a bit
more streamlined (and to sell more jerseys) and although the new look sleek jersey has met with mixed reviews, it has actually benefited the
penguin. He simply looks
enormous (steroids again?), and of course all the more glorious. Long live
the
penguin! Unfortunately, for the Penguins they're cool logo couldn't help them this evening as they lost to the
Rangers 4-2,
thus concluding their dismal four game, week long metropolitan area
junket with only one
win, and no visits to Penguin Place. But, beyond actual wins or loses or retail sales, from where I'm sitting they sure looked great during this
abysmal road trip around my home town, and with penguin merchandise one
of the NHL's top sellers, and new stadium on the way there's little
doubt that the Pittsburgh Penguins will be wearing my favorite penguin mascot proudly on their jerseys
for a long time to come,
There's even talk of reviving their old team light and dark blue colors
for the opening of the new arena in 2009. I'm keeping my flippers crossed. By the way, if you've never
watched a game at The Igloo (yes, that's where the Penguins play) in
Pittsburgh,
It's worth the trip. It's a unique looking building, inside and out, and
where else can you go and hear 16,000 people yelling "Let's Go Penguins"!
And by the way, if you're keeping score at home, my favorite sport is baseball.
Last night I introduced a category to Penguin Place that I've been pondering for awhile. I call it P-Bay (pretty clever huh?).
You see over the years I've come across all sorts of penguin place items that I thought were gone forever. Some of these penguins years removed from my inventory. Sometimes I find them while doing inventory, cleaning up or moving some boxes around. Then all of a sudden the little long lost penguin appears and a long lost penguin plush, shirt, toy is found.
Since there's usually only one of these awol penguins discovered I'd never bother putting it back on Penguin Place, especially the way the old P.P. website was put together.
The old way I'd have to take a picture, send the image, copy and price to my webmaster and she would put it up on the website, charging me whatever percentage of $60 an hour it took to put the penguin back up. Definitely not worth it for just one waddler. But now the way the new website is set up, I can do all the updating myself. So in
5 minutes per penguin I can list all these long lost penguins that I've been accumulating all these years.
Plus, as I keep having children (O.K. I only have two, but that's twice as many as when I had one, and infinitely more than when I had none), I'm running out of room for all my personal penguin collection.
Which I must say is quite impressive and some of it pretty quirky. Sure, over the years I've used e-bay a bit, but for my own selfish and practical reasons I like the idea of P-Bay better.
Not only can I offer the penguin loving public some long lost Penguin Place treasures as well as some of my personal favorites through penguin ground zero (Penguin Place).
But come to think of it, I can also offer my customers in the same boat the option to sell their penguins directly to other penguin lover as well.
I know it'll all be pretty much
based on trust, but as I like to say "I never met a penguin lover I didn't like".
So why shouldn't I trust fellow penguin people that want to list on P-Bay.
After all, all they're doing is selling their penguin stuff to other penguin collectors. Just like me.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Time will tell.
Also, on a personal note, tomorrow is my birthday and although I didn't have a big party or presents, I spent a beautiful day with my wife Molly and my two little girls (Sophie and Rose) along with about 25 of my friends in Prospect Park playing softball and eating cookies and cupcakes (from my wife and kids) in Prospect Park. It was as good a birthday as I could have asked for. Plus, I hit 4 home runs!
Ron Cey, eat your heart out.
Through the years of being involved in Penguin Place I've been able to meet all sorts of interesting and quirky penguin people. Although taking Penguin Place exclusively on-line has limited my personal contact with the penguin loving public, for 15 years I had a shop at South St. Seaport in NYC, and was able to meet and greet just about all my customers and fellow penguin people. One of my favorite meetings was with none other than Monsieur Pingouin way back in 1996. He was a famous Paris disc jockey who had gone by the moniker "Pingouin" since disco was all the rage. It happened one day in the spring of 96, when I received a phone call from Pingouin's assistant informing me that Monsieur Pingouin, the famous French DJ (according to the assistant) would be visiting Next Stop South Pole the next day. Great, I thought. Can't wait. But, I was more than a little perplexed. People don't usually call in advance to announce they were going to shop at a store in the mall at South St. Seaport. Then I wondered, who is this Monsieur Pingouin and why did he feel compelled to announce his visit? I explained all this to my trusty manager Heather and of course she insisted on being there as well. So, we waited. All day we waited and waited. Our anticipation soon turned to doubt, which then turned to more doubt. Was this a prank or a practical joke? Then around 3:00 pm, in waddled a cherubic, grinning, stocky man bellowing a resounding "bonjour, je mapel Monsier Pingouin." His assistant, a taller, younger man interpreted, but by that point Heather and I were already getting the
double cheek kisses and embraces all around. He spoke less English than I did French, but thanks to his assistant we were able to spend over an hour together, talking penguins and music. Apparently, the penguin goodies (and music) in the U.S. were totally different than in France and Pingouin could not contain himself at the site of all the never before seen penguin treats. He literally wanted everything and he ended up purchasing everything he and his aide could hardly carry. Later that year I wrote a brief article about him in the Penguin Post and it read: Believe it or not, a new Monsieur Pingouin has been found, this time in France, and he is legally known as Alain Regis. For the past twenty years he has only answered to the name "Pingouin." As a legendary Paris-based DJ, manager and photographer, Pingouin is a fixture in the French entertainment scene, complete with his own penguin logo, t-shirts, bumper stickers and more.
I heard from him a couple of more times in the next year or so, but that was it and I thought like with many "celebrities" in the music scene his time must have come and gone. Perhaps he was out of the business all together, or due to the fickle nature of his profession he had changed his nickname. After all if the likes of Puff Daddy had to become P-Diddy, what chance did Pingouin have?
Then the other day to my surprise I get an e-mail from none other than, Monsieur Pingouin himself. It read:
Eric,
I would like to use the following
pictures for an article about myself
concerning my collection of penguins
( about 7000 to 8000 piéces )
are you ok ?
thanks for answering
sincerely
see you, Pingouin
Along with the short e-mail was 3 photographs from when he came to visit in 1996 of himself, me and Heather. Not only was it great to hear that Pingouin was still going strong after all these years, but it was quite flattering that in a French magazine article about Pingouin and his thirty years of DJ-ing and collecting penguins that he choose to use a picture of us in my old Seaport penguin store for the article.
Monsieur Pingouin, I salute you.
About a year ago I was contacted by someone who claimed they worked for a Hollywood production company called Chuck Productions. This person told me they were shooting a movie in Vancouver B.C. called "Good Luck Chuck" starring Jessica Alba, and they needed to procure lots of penguins asap for the film. Ya right, I thought being the typical cynical penguin selling New Yorker that I am. I wasn't sure what this guys angle was, but I was sure he was going to ask me to send him lots of penguins for free in return for some phony movie screen credit. I'm no sucker I thought.
But, to my pleasant surprise my "pengdar" was all wrong, and it turned out he was the real deal as was Chuck Productions. I was then faxed a very long list of penguins they needed for the movie, which was followed by a very real deal credit card to pay for them. He also explained to me without giving away the top secret plot that the Jessica Alba character works in the penguin exhibit at the local zoo, and they needed my penguin goodies to decorate her office and home. After extensively checking out Jessica Alba fan sites on-line, I decided she (and the ensuing credit card payment) was indeed worthy of my penguins. I even kind of, sort of looked forward to the eventual release of Good Luck Chuck. Early this summer I had a big smile on my face while seeing a coming attraction for it when I went to see "Knocked Up", which by the way I gave two flippers up, way up. Although, I didn't spot any penguins in the trailer, I did see plenty of Alba in her form fitting zoo keeper uniform.
Then, a couple of weeks ago the movie came out to some of the worst reviews I've ever read for a movie with penguins in it or otherwise.
My old buddy Kyle Smith from the N.Y. Post generously gave it half a star and wrote. -- 'GOOD Luck Chuck," a fungal little sex comedy, doesn't need a review. It needs a tube of ointment and a shot of penicillin."
Ouch! Kyle that was harsh! And that was just the first sentence.
I guess it just goes to show you that even in this penguin crazed movie era, even some really cute penguin products can't save a lame Jessica Alba flick. Now, I know in my head that I had nothing to do with this celuloid disaster, but somehow my heart can't help feeling broken by all the bad press. Like it or not, in some penguinesque Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon connection, I'm tied to this film. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to sell them penguins without reading the script first. Maybe, all I saw was the money. Maybe, I just wanted to go to the movies and squeal, "Look, that's my penguin, that's my penguin!" But, alas that ship has sailed thanks to the horrible, mean, spiteful Jessica Alba hating press. So I'm going to have to pass at the opportunity to make a fool of myself in public. I'll probably just wait until it turns up on basic cable. Although, I doubt I'll be squealing at the sight of my penguins on the small screen. I might wake up the kids.
This whole process of creating a new web site for Penguin Place has been quite a stressful, but interesting learning experience. The original website which was first created during the next stop South Pole days in 1996-97 was such a revelation and novelty at the time. Although not too many people were on-line back then, and most of those weren't comfortable with shopping on-line, eventually between our print catalog (no longer in print) and our fledgling webbed sales we were able to leave our Seaport and Harborplace brick and igloo stores behind and go to an exclusive penguin catalog and internet sales operation. But, here in 2007 with the old website 10 years old, which according to some people in the know is the equivalent of 100 years old in the ever technological changing on-line retail world, Penguin-Place.com needed some serious updating real bad and real soon.
How bad? Well some people didn't even know how to place an order in the old fashioned, simple 1997 way the website was constructed. Folks had become use to surfing and shopping 21st century style, and penguin-place.com was an internet dinosaur.
Ironically, not unlike having a car, apartment or old baseball glove for a decade, saying goodbye to your old friend (in this case penguin-place.com) was quite traumatic. After all this is the baby that turned NSSP into Penguin Place and got me out of South St. Seaport and working in a mall on weekends, holidays, etc. The new website would not and could not look like the old one, from the home page, to the shopping pages, to the way the penguins are listed. My old original web designer from the nineties was long gone.
My new web designer was fine in getting the snow ball rolling, but he seemed to lack some of the "penguin vision" I had (who does), plus certain key parts of the site did not (and still do not) work, like the product search and the sale page before and after price list. But, I've since brought on board a new web designer , who happens to be my next door neighbor Rob, so I can bug him with stuff whenever I want, and I now have some "experts" trying to fix the not working parts mentioned above. All in all, it's been a long, frustrating, interesting few months, but I'm starting to get use to the new site and it's enabled me to finally get new Penguin Post articles on-line after a 5 year hiatus, and I can blog. Who knew I'd ever blog? But, then again who knew 20 odd years ago that my passion for penguins would lead me in this direction.
Due to popular demand I've decided today to re-print our classic Penguin On The Tele shirt. The design is home made and is taken from one of my favorite Monty Pythin sketches. Stangely, it was the first shirt design I ever did on my own way back in 1986, and over the years I've sold hundreds of them to penguin python people who get it. For a couple of weeks in 86 I even took an ad out for the shirt in the back pages of Rolling Stone Magazine. I stopped printing new Penguin On the Tele shirts about 3 years ago as I figured Monty Python was a different generations pop culture, but considering the requests I've been getting to bring the shirt back, I'm happy to report that Python's appeal seems to be as strong as ever. I'm hoping to have the Penguin On The Tele shirt available in all sizes by early November.
October 12, 2007
Last night my 4 year old daughter Sophie told me she doesn't want to be a penguin for halloween this year. She's been a very cute waddler every year since she could waddle, but alas this year she insists on being spiderman (spidergirl actually). Ah, how the mass media corrupts our children. I'm hoping that since halloween is on a wednesday, that there will be many days of costumes and parades and my Sophie penguin will make an appearence at some point over the weekend.
How long have people been fascinated with penguins, obviously a long time? This is what they had to say back in 1895!
Taken from: "Beauties and Wonders of Land and Sea Vol. 2." Farm and
Fireside Library No. 123, May 1895. Published by Mast, Crowell &
Kirkpatrick, Springfield, Ohio. Pp. 254-255.
"The Penguins belong exclusively to cold countries. They rarely quit
the vicinity of land, yet seldom come ashore except in breeding
season or when driven by the squalls or storms from their favorite
element. On shore they are compelled to sit erect. They carry the head
very high and the neck stretched out, while their short winglets are
advanced like two diminutive arms. When they sit perched in flocks on
some lofty projecting rock, they might be mistaken at a distance for a
line of soldiers. At certain periods of the year they assemble for a
sort
of parliament, which is conducted with an obvious degree of
solemnity. When the meeting results in a decision, they proceed to
work with great activity. Upon a ledge of rock, sufficiently level and
of
the necessary size, they trace a square, with one of its sides parallel
and overlooking the edge of the water, which is left open for the
egress of the colony. Then with their beaks they proceed to collect all
the stones in the neighborhood, which they heap up outside the lines
marked out, to serve them as a wall to shelter them from the prevailing
winds. During the night these openings are guarded by sentinels.
They afterward divide the inclosure into smaller squares, each large
enough to receive a certain number of nests, with a passage between
each square. No architect could arrange the plan in a more regular
manner. It has been observed that the Albatross, a bird essentially
aerial and adapted for flight, at this period associates with the
penguins, their nests being found side by side. The whole colony, so
differently constituted, appear to live on the best of terms of
intimacy.
Other sea-birds come to partake of the hospitality of the little
republic.
With the permission of the masters, they build their nests in the
vacancies that occur in the squares.
The female penguin lays but one egg, the male taking her place on
the egg when she goes out in search of food. They are so numerous
in the Antarctic seas that 100,000 eggs have been collected by the
crew of one vessel."
This was before any longterm scientific studies were conducted.
Considering that ship crew's appetite for eggs, it's a wonder the
species survived!
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