# Actual weird store names from where you live. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 25, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119 "2005-07-25T22:05:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/41 "2005-07-26T14:30:55Z")
> [@](#): > > There used to be the Dippin’ Donuts & Police Supply in Dorchester. Alas, they closed a while back. There used to be a Dippin’ Donuts in Southbridge, MA, too. It closed over a year ago, and is now another cloned Dunkin’ Donuts. But before it died and was resurrected, it was featured in three “Zippy the Pinhead” cartoons. I know, because I took the cartoons to the store and compared them – every crack in the sidewalk matches, as does the church building behind it. Before they died, they taped up the Zippy cartoons on the counter. (I never knew there was one in Dorchester) **Big Bunny Market** is just up the street and over the hill. It, too, was featured in a Zippy comic. It’s still there, idiosyncratic and alone, the only one of its type. It still has the giant Big Bunny on its sign. ---
**Author:** ![Phatlewt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a698b9/32.png) [@Phatlewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatlewt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/42 "2005-07-26T14:50:15Z")
Ohio is home to The “ **Superior Erection Company** ” They’re in construction. ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/43 "2005-07-26T15:17:31Z")
Well, in Nashville, a restaurant called the **White Trash Cafe**. In Louisville, KY there is **Cox’s Smokers** , a cigarette outlet store. And I always see the sign in Louisville for **Dizzy Whizz** , a burger stand, featuring the **Whizz Burger**. Can’t imagine why I haven’t stopped. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/44 "2005-07-26T15:25:21Z")
The first time I saw a Piggly Wiggly I thought it was the weirdest store name ever. I asked my sister if this was some kind of New Age-y organiic crunchy place and she looked at me strangely and said it was just a regular grocery store. I guess she was used to it by then, after living in the South for a few years. As far as I know, we don’t have Pigglys up north. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/45 "2005-07-26T15:26:20Z")
They’re not as prevalent as they are down south, but we had one in my area until a few years ago (Chicago burbs). ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/46 "2005-07-26T15:30:56Z")
Rolling Meadows has Best Head - it’s a barbershop. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/47 "2005-07-26T15:34:18Z")
In Dublin there is a shop called “ **Knobs and Knockers** ” which sells doorknobs, doorknockers and such like things. In Belfast there is butcher’s shop called “ **Pleased to meet you, meat to please you** ”. No, seriously. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/48 "2005-07-26T15:35:51Z")
I haven’t been to Toronto in 9 years, but on Yonge Street there was a store called “The Bi-way”. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/49 "2005-07-26T15:36:30Z")
I have a couple. Here in town is a respected architecture firm with the name “Stoner Architects”. I like to think that if I stopped by to see what they’re working on, it would be these enormous models of housing projects that look like they were based on a Yes album cover. In the town where I grew up, there was a haircut place called “Hair It Is!” Not that notable by itself, I suppose. What always made me laugh was how crammed together the letters were. Looked like an ad for some horrible disease: HAIRITIS! ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/50 "2005-07-26T15:46:28Z")
I always get a kick out of the idea that in Norfolk, Va., an area chock full of Marines, that there is a furniture store named **Esprit Decor.** ---
**Author:** ![FandJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/858c86/32.png) [@FandJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FandJ)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/51 "2005-07-26T15:46:42Z")
There is a company in southern Illinois called Broad Building Supplies. The first time I saw one of their trucks, I thought ‘What? I can build my own to spec?’. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/52 "2005-07-26T15:48:29Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > **Fountains of Wayne** was kind of a funny name for a store in Wayne, New Jersey that sold garden fountains and water features until a band appropriated it. Now it’s a really funny name. It’s not so funny if you’re stuck in traffic on Route 46 and are forced to stare at it for an hour or so. 🙂 But as a kid, it always made me think that it had something to do with Batman’s big, fancy backyard. I used to work for a company that had, as a former client, a company called **Elf Lubricants**. I often find myself wondering if it was lubricants made for, by, or even _with_ elves. I usually think of it in my head as “Keebler K-Y.” There’s a bookstore on Route 10 called **The Happy Booker**. Gives me a giggle every time I pass it. There’s also a restaurant in Caldwell, NJ, called **Bangkok Kitchen**. Not _really_ funny unless you have a mind like mine. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/53 "2005-07-26T15:55:11Z")
There was a short-lived store on State Street in Madison, WI when I was in college. They sold cigars and coffee (not a coffee house, they just had a coffee maker plugged into a wall). The name was obviously a male generic name of the owner (I think it was Dan). However, the marks on the outside of the window was formatted strangely: Dan? Dan? Dan? Dan? Dan? Dan? Dan? Dan? Dan? It ran along the bottom of the window. There was no other sign. My friends stopped for coffee there sometimes because you could smoke inside and it was cold. They would say, “We stopped in at Dan? and had a coffee…” It didn’t last long, to be hospitable. Maybe a month. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/54 "2005-07-26T16:36:50Z")
BiWay is a chain of discount stores (one step above dollar stores, one step below Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc.) In The Beaches, there’s a local chinese restaurant called The Goof. It originally had another name, and the sign said _\ Good Food_. The _d_ and _Foo_ of the sign burned out, and wasn’t fixed for a long time, and everyone started calling it The Goof. Eventually the original name was forgotten and they started selling T-shirts. 🙂 I was in there a few years ago and I don’t think the decor had been changed since 1957. I think ELF is a fairly famous European oil company. There’s a car dealership at the Queensway and Stephen Drive in Toronto that has their logo on the sign. I have to wonder about the logo though; it has a six-legged dog breathing fire. Hmm. Near Church and Wellesley there’s a bookshop called This Ain’t The Rosedale Library. Context: Church and Wellesly is the Gay Village. Rosedale is the canonical conservative old-money rich exclusive district not too far north. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/55 "2005-07-26T17:01:28Z")
> [@Seeker74](#): > > Quite right, **FilmGeek** … But how could you forget The Outhouse, located just on the west side of Lawrence? BYOB, btw. 😃 **The Outhouse** has an actual outhouse sitting out side. It’s the least pleasant place I’ve ever been, and yes, it’s a BYOB strip club. I grew up near a liquor store called “House of Hooch”. Git Yo Chicken Fish and Burgers still exists. I’ve never been there, though. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/56 "2005-07-26T17:04:38Z")
there used to be a Roast Beef place on Route 1 going south near Saugus, MA called **Full of Bull**. It was a great place to bring visitors, because its walls were decorated with license plates and auto memorabilia. “Decorated” doesn’t do it justice – the walls were jam-packed with the stuff. The tables had glass tops, and underneath were compartments filled with weird little antiques and flotsam and jetsam. They tore it down a couple of years ago, and now it’s just another McDonald’s. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/57 "2005-07-26T17:18:51Z")
When I was in college we had a laundromat called “Duds and Suds”. They had a bar next to the machines, so you could drink while you waited for the rinse cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Kitchen\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f08c70/32.png) [@Kitchen\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kitchen_Wench)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/58 "2005-07-26T17:32:45Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > **The Outhouse** has an actual outhouse sitting out side. Really? Is it functional or just “decorative?” 😃 A friend of mine attended a bachelor party held at the Outhouse. He said it had a dangerous feel. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/59 "2005-07-26T18:06:54Z")
There’s a store in Salisbury NC called PMS Firearms. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119/60 "2005-07-26T18:09:49Z")
I have done business with a nursery called [Weird Dude’s Plant Zoo.](http://www.weirddudesplantzoo.com/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-weird-store-names-from-where-you-live/314119.md?page=4)