This is the coolest thing I've ever seen. THE COOLEST.
Cool idea. Cool stuff in the store. Cool behind-the-scenes ulterior motive. Cool marketing.
It's exactly what it appears to be at first glance: an honest-to-goodness Space Travel Supply Company. Right here in Seattle.
And it's much, much more. It's the store front and cash flow engine for a totally awesome non-profit called 826 Seattle:
826 Seattle is a nonprofit writing and tutoring center dedicated to helping youth, ages six to 18, improve their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Our services are structured around our belief that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.
826 Seattle is one of six 826 National chapters. The original, 826 Valencia, is located in San Francisco’s Mission District (826valencia.org). The others are in Ann Arbor (826michigan.org); Brooklyn (826NYC.org); Chicago (826chi.org); and Los Angeles (826la.org).
Each of the chapters has a funky and fun "front". Only it's not just a front -- you can actually find the stuff advertised:
…the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. is the kind of novelty shop that sells imagination. . . .But what makes this beautifully realized shop work is its unflinching devotion to theme. As far as I’m concerned, this truly is a space-travel supply store, my first stop for rocket fuel, stun guns and do-it-yourself intergalactic treaties.”
— Convergence Zone, NWsource web blog, November 29, 2005
PLUS you can also find the stuff that the kids are writing.
Read more about 826 and other mojo magic over at Magic Boxes, Canned Chaos and Creative Totems, by Josh Clark of Global Moxie.
I wonder what kind of mileage a gal could get with a Star Trek shuttlecraft...
