For more than 30 years Archie McPhee has been bringing strange and amazing things to the world. We design and manufacture the kinds of impractical items that make life better. Located in Seattle, Washington, the Archie McPhee store has moved a few times (starting in Fremont, then going to Ballard), but has finally settled into the Wallingford neighborhood. Our owner, Mark Pahlow, started the business selling rubber lizards and other crazy things out of his house in L.A. He found that people couldn't get enough of his collectible junk, but he needed space for his company to grow. Risking it all, he packed his entire inventory into a U-Haul truck and headed for Seattle. In 1983 he set up shop with two employees in Seattle's Fremont district using the name “Archie McPhee.” For a while, his retail sales were under the name Archie McPhee and he made his products under the name Accoutrements before finally settling on Archie McPhee Wholesale. He wrote a book called Who Would Buy This? The Archie McPhee Story that goes into more detail about his background and the roots of the business.