When it rains it pours and that's certainly the case with all the new penguins that's been arriving here over the past week or so. It seems that every day another three, four or five new items arrive. Since last Wednesday I've received all the new penguin Halloween costumes in 5 sizes, 4 new penguin plush, new books, 4 new styles of earrings, 6 new holiday ornaments, and I'm now up to five (yes, five) 2009 penguin calendars, pictures frames, key chains, broaches, holiday lights,baby stuff, toilet seat covers, etc, etc. With more arriving every day, I'm tempted to send out a rare mid-month update because by the time October 1st comes around I'll have too much new stuff to list in one update. I guess that's a good problem.
Looks like the penguins at Moody Gardens in Galveston came through the storm OK:
I'm sure you've seen on the news that most of the island and coastal residents did not come through as well, but I figured you might not have seen anything about our feathered friends. I'm sure as the folks of Galveston rebuild, they'll need tourist dollars more than ever, and Moody Gardens has a lovely 3-level penguin exhibit--you can watch the penguins from above or from ground level, or you can downstairs to watch them swim.
I was contacted about a month ago by an Englishman named Danel Raymond who told
me that he wanted to come visit Penguin Place in late June and surprise his
girlfriend by proposing to her in my store / warehouse / igloo.
According to Dan his girlfriend liked 2 things, him and penguins (and
not always in that order). So, it was arranged that Dan would fly in
from London on his holiday on June 24th and on the evening of June 25th
the couple would visit Penguin Place. Dan contacted some friends of
theirs that live in the states to come Penguin Place, hide in my
apartment and surprise the couple after he pops the question. I even contacted the local Brooklyn Paper and they felt it worthy of sending a reporter and photographer. What if
she said no was never discussed. My daughter Sophie got to stay up late for the occasion
and spent her post bedtime bonus hour cutting up paper for confetti to shower the happy couple with. Daniel and his soon to be fiancee arrived here around 9 pm and after a couple of minutes of admiring my
penguins and nervous shuffling (waddling) at 9:04 p.m. Dan got down on one knee in front of my old fridge stuffed with plush penguins and opens up his penguin shaped ring
box to reveal a lovely diamond engagement ring to his stunned girlfriend
(Rachel). Sophie pops out from behind a curtain and begins to throw the confetti like crazy and the
friends all pop out from hiding. Quite possibly the most bizarre and joyous penguin place event ever. It even made the paper this week . Hopefully, they'll waddle happily ever
after, and have themselves a family of penguin lovers. The following is the e-mails from Daniel in cronilogical order.
April 24th, 2008 Hi,
my girlfreind is a penguin lover and i am planning on asking her to
get married this summer. i was wondering if i could bring her to your
shop in brooklyn and ask her there?
thank you
ps. ive never been to your shop before, do you think it would be a
sutible place for me to ask her? Daniel Raymond
Daniel,
I know our neighborhood is quite romantic, we're on the water right next to the Brooklyn Bridge with views of lower Manhattan. The penguin place warehouse has never been described as a romantic destination, but I suppose if you're a penguin lover it can be. Let me know when you're thinking about coming by and I'll spruce the place up for you. I will be away July 11th to the 18th.
Eric
April 25th, 2008 Wow thank you that would be great, it will be sometime in the beginning of july but i will definetly make it before your away. again thank you very much and ill let you know nearer the time with more imformation. is your shop open at night? sundown is at 9ish that time of the year so if your not open that late then ill do it during the day sometime. ill let you know the plan nearer the time anyways.
May 11th, 2008, Hi, this is Daniel Raymond (the guy who wants to propose in your shop :-))
ok so I have planned everything out and I hope to be asking my girlfreind to marry me on june 26th in the evening (around 8ish), is that ok by you?
let me explain that i am from england and my girlfreind lives in new york so I am coming to see her again on june 24th and want to ask her on june 26th. As I will be with her all the time and I dont want her to get suspicious I will not be able to come to the shop before to speak with you or arrange anything, but I have alot of freinds who live in the area who are willing to help me. she loves blue roses so I was thinking of having some araound the shop (if thats ok!!) I wasent planning on many and will probably use mostly fake ones so that they would not be messy.
Also the plan is to get a ring box which is in the shape of a penguin and put that somewhere in the shop where she will pick it up and open it.
I really hope this is all ok but if not let me know and i will tone it down.
thank you very very much for letting me to this!!
Daniel Raymond
Daniel,
June 26th is not good for us. What about the 25th or the 27th?
Other than that.
This sounds like a great idea.
my family is really looking forward to it. We live right next door to my penguin place igloo.
I have a 5 year old daughter who will pop out after the fact and shower you guys with little penguins.
if one of your friends needs to come by earlier in the day to ready the shop that's fine with me.
Also, check out the penguin pendant in penguin shaped box on our web site as you can use this for the ring box. h
Eric
ok no problem i will arrange it for the 25th
yeah that ring box you sent me is what i was planning on using thanks, also i was planning on ordering the two penguins hugginh each other, ill do that later this week.
thanks again
Daniel
ps. its gonna be so amazing and your duaghter with the penguins sounds like a really good idea!!
hope all is well.
June 20th, 2008 I now have alot of stuff planned out for the proposal
im just emailing to make sure the 25th of june is still ok for you?
i was hoping to come around 8pm
also i have ordered some fake blue roses (as my girlfreind loves them) is it ok if some freinds come round a little before 8 and arrange them around the shop? (they dont make any mess cause there plastic)
thank you again for letting me do this
June 22th, 2008 Daniel Raymond
hi!
ok so almost eveything is arranged now, i have the ring and i have a penguin ring box for it which is really cool :-)
i just wanted to confirm your address:
220 Water Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
USA
is that right?
June 24th, 2008 I will be landing in america on tuesday around 1pm and my cell phone number will be 8**-***-****
could you let me have your number just incase
also i have all the fake blue roses and heres my plan - my freind will come to she shop a little before 8 and arrange the flwoers around the shop
then they will leave and hide somewhere around the corner, then i will come in with Rachel and propose and then we will pack up the roses and
leave.
sounds ok?
thank you very much and is there anything in particular you want me to bring for you from london cause i was thinking of bringing you some british chocolates.
thanks again
daniel raymond
t hat's the address, but you won't see anything to do with penguins or penguin place when you get there.
there isn't a buzzer either. you'll need to call me at 1 877 736-4946 in order for me to come down and let you guys in. Same goes for anyone else who might be coming by.
Eric
June 25th, 2008 Last check. My friends will be over by 7 pm and I'll be by with Rachel around 8 pm. Thanks for doing this, I hope it goes as well as I've imagined it. Daniel
Expensive oil, the economy and the weak dollar are effecting everything, so why should penguins be immune? These past few months have seen soaring shipping costs because of the price of gas and transportation. We've tried to absorb these costs and not pass them on to our customers by not re-ordering some of our larger stuffed animals and using Priority Mail. But, where our feathers have really hit the fan is when it comes to penguins we import from Europe. Watches, toys, figurines and even some plush all waddle on over from the old country, and in the past year some prices have actually doubled. We've stopped carrying the popular LAKS adelie penguin watch as they simply became too expensive as well as a couple of other Euroguins, but penguin popular demand necissitated our re-ordering the Castagna Bride & Groom and Penguin Lovers Figurines from Italy and will be available in July, even though the prices has more than doubled in the past year. On the flip side our penguins are very inexpensive if you live in Europe and we've added many European penguin lovers to our customer igloo these past few months.
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.
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