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Wallingford gets a new indie retail shop on May 21st:  Sock Monster! Not sock monkey. Sock MONSTER. Bwah ha ha!

Sock Monster opens May 21st with what promises to be a fine party DJed by recent East Coast transplant, Miss Shelrawka.  Come, get your groove on, sample some of the snacks, and check out the rad socks.

You may recognize owner Holly Gummelt’s Fairy Tale Fibers hats from the Portland, Pike Place & Fremont markets – she’s been a regular for years and opened her first store, Ballard’s Monster Art & Clothing, to provide a place for other market kids to showcase their wares. Now, she’s branching out into Wallingford with Sock Monster.

The new store will expand on the Ballard store’s established sock wall:

• Sock It To Me socks (woman-owned Portland business)
• Rock Socks (another woman-owned west coast business).  Sock Monster hopes to be fully stocked with Rocks Socks’ GAY socks in time for Seattle Pride, which is totally great for those of us with busted gaydars.
• Fairy Tale Fibers hats
• Flipside Hats
• Alchemy Goods bags made of recycled innertubes

But wait, there’s more!  This is going to be a totally hip store:

• Pinball machines will be installed for our loitering pleasure, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula & at least one more.  I requested the South Park pinball machine (“Damn woman, you tryin’ to kill me?  I just gave you sweet lovin’ 5 minutes ago.” –Chef) but the jury’s still out on that one.
• Vessell Drinkware — environmentally conscious water bottles and coffee cups (zombies & octopi, oh my!)
• Interactive soap display with handmade soaps made from local honey, organic milk and essential oils — cut your own chunk o’ soap or pick up a pre-measured bar
• HOTLIPS sodas
• Nostalgic drinks made without high fructose corn syrup, like Bubble Up, appropriately displayed in an old Monster Energy Drink cooler
• Healthy snacks
• Holly’s handmade steel & wood counter area

Sock Monster will be as local and as environmentally & socially conscious as possible — from the local indie retail suppliers to compostable shopping bags.  Holly chose a Wallingford location after noticing other small indie businesses such as Molly Moon’s Handmade Ice Cream and Fainting Goat Gelato thriving in the neighborhood.  What better place to open an indie retail store than Wallingford!?

Look for 10% off coupons at the Wallingford Farmer’s Market.  The store will share a storefront with Not A Number Cards & Gifts @ 1905 N. 45th St.  Store hours will be somewhere in the ballpark of M-F 11-7, Sat 11-8 and Sun 12-6.