Does Anyone Really Buy This Junk?

Yesterday was day two of the family get together at the Oregon Coast.  True to form, the day started gloomy and wet.  Since most of the family was occupied with building up the family tree and looking through photos, Ryan and I decided to take a trip in the car to see some of the Antique shops in the area. 

The weather isn't really predictable at Oregon beaches and the water isn't warm enough to swim so most of the little towns offer a series of gift and antique shops to entice visitors and sightseers. Neither Ryan or I had been to this area of the coastline in many years so we drove south from Manzanita Beach to the one street town of Nehalem Bay about 10 mins away. 

The first shop we stopped into was called Hal's Emporium.  It was about 3 blocks long and a block deep, the largest of the 3 shops in town.  Upon entering we found ourselves in a place that was crammed full of souvenirs, and nick knacks.  99% of these "treasures" were mass produced somewhere overseas and marked up way over the value they were worth.  From plastic crabs and brass plates to 'The Head' to The Redneck Beer-o-Meter, the shop had everything you never knew you needed.

All these goodies got my brain going.  My first thought was, does anyone ever buy this junk? Followed by, Why?

I've been a longtime fan of the beach and enjoy browsing the shops on rainy days but over the years I can count on one hand the swag I've brought back from the shore.  4 out of 5 of the items I've ever purchased were tee-shirts.  I get the want to bring back a personalized tee-shirt of the places I've visited.  It's functional.  The occasional magnet, also functional but never have I said to myself, Gee I could really use a plastic pirate skull that doubles as a wine holder.  So back to my first question... Does anyone buy this stuff?

If I was a vendor on the Oregon Coast I would offer products that were handmade locally and were something that you could only find at the beach.  But it seems that most shops spend all their money stocking their shelves with crap that no one needs and every other store along Oregon's 363 miles of shoreline is also offering. 

The shops that do offer crafts from local artisans have dubbed themselves galleries which in my mind spells dollar signs and most of the time disways me from even bothering to leave the car.  9 out of 10 times although the work is gorgeous it is very cost prohibitive and I guess that is why cruising Made in China junk has become a boardwalk standard. 

I do however wonder how these little shops make enough money to keep their doors open year after year. I also wonder if there is some magical catalog of crap that all of these vendors source goods from.  Over my last dozen trips to the coast I don't think I've found anything truly unique at any store unless it was truly an Antique shop.  But even those are being filled with trinket junk.  Couple this with the now standard Outlet Malls and the coast has become less about celebrating the beauty of this natural wonder and more about filling your house with needless clutter.

It's really a sad state of affairs for all of us American product manufacturers whose wares would be lost in a sea of plastic nick knacks if we even attempted to sell in one of these small coastal shops.  If I could speak directly to these shops I would encourage them to branch out and offer the public quality American and/ or locally made products that people can really feel good about bringing back as souvenirs.  The profit may not be as great at first, but once people start to realize that shopping at the coast is worth the extra drive, I think it will increase sales and beach shop traffic.

After our disappointing shopping experience Ryan and I decided to make a trip to the Tillamook Creamery.  Many Americans know them for their cheese but North Westerners also know they make a mean ice cream too. The ice cream was our motivation for the 45 min drive down from Nehalem. Even on a rainy day the place was swamped with visitors buying locally made cheese and filling their faces with ice cream. Sure this is a nationally known product, but I firmly believe that it is the quality of this locally owned and operated product that drew all these people in. The bummer about our trip to the creamy however was that beyond their gift shop once again was filled with junk! However they did have some interesting unique products that were made locally including "Poo Paper," a series of stationary made out of recycled cow patties.  Gross, but I had to commend them on the creativity of that particular product line.  The other product that stood out to me was a bird house crafted by an artist in Tillamook.  You could instantly tell just by looking at it that these bird houses were quality and it wasn't surprising that they were made in town.  The disappointment on this item was that the shop had stuffed it in a low lying shelf amongst other junk instead of displaying it in the window that looked out to the entrance of the building or somewhere else that would give it the presence it deserved. Instead the window display was a clutter of foreign pottery and resin garden art. Totally a bummer. I think that I will write them and give them some feedback.  I'll let you know what they say...