There’s no denying it. One of Davenport’s newest retail stores is a fun place that is filled with some funny, unusual and even thought-provoking items.
“It’s going great. This is a good place to be,” said Katie Mayers, manager of Raygun at 210 E. Second St., Davenport. (The store is located on the first floor of the new Urbane 210 apartment building and across the street from Major Art & Hobby in downtown Davenport.)
The store, which opened Nov. 18 in Davenport, is already putting together a customer base in the community with people who love the quirky and unusual merchandise, added Ms. Mayers.
Some of those items include lots of t-shirts, puzzles, books, postcards, coffee cups and much more. There’s even a children’s section in the store.
The store manager said that the best-selling items at the Raygun Davenport store center on anything with a Quad Cities connection. Some of those items include:
- A poster with one of Davenport’s truck-eating bridges, stating: “Davenport: We eat trucks like you for breakfast.”
- Another poster states: “East Moline is one of the Quad Cities.”
- And many t-shirts about the region. Some of those shirts state: “The Quad Cities: Twice as nice as the Twin Cities,” “Bix, please” and “Davenport. More than just a great sofa.”
The store is also getting fans in the local business community.
“It feels like we made it,” said Kyle Carter, executive director of the Downtown Davenport Partnership in a message to the QCBJ. “Having Raygun choose to be in downtown Davenport says a lot about how far we’ve come, especially after several really difficult years. We’re thrilled to have Raygun call this place home and continue to build the culture and vibe of East Second Street.”
Business at the Davenport store – which has two full-time and four part-time employees – is off to a fast start, said Mike Draper, the founder and owner of the seven Raygun stores. In addition to Davenport, there are stores in Des Moines (the first store that was started in 2005), Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Cedar Falls, Chicago and Omaha.
“We’ve had our eye on Davenport for several years. … It was just the right place at the right time,” Mr. Draper said.
He adds that he is “actively looking” to expand the business and add another Raygun store at some point in the future. Mr. Draper said that the new store site might be Ames, Dubuque, a Wisconsin location or some smaller communities in Iowa.
In addition to possibly expanding its number of stores, Mr. Draper is also expanding its humor-based offerings at Raygun. A few days ago, Raygun announced it has teamed up with popular satirical newspaper The Onion to release limited edition t-shirts. One of those t-shirts was on display in the Davenport store a few days ago.
The shirt has an Onion headline: “Iowa leaves big Saran-wrapped bowl of potato salad at Illinois border after making too much.”
“It’s great to hear people walk around the store and laugh at the product,” said Mr. Draper in a statement on the partnership. “I mean, the product is meant to be laughed at. It would be sadder if they were laughing at a product that wasn’t supposed to be a joke.”
Raygun, which refers to itself as “The Greatest Store in the Universe” on its website, has its own brand of humor in almost every section of the Davenport store. Some of those items include:
- A book entitled “I Could Pee on This and Other Poems by Cats.”
- A poster: “The Quad Cities invented taco pizza. What has your city done?”
- A children’s shirt, “I was told there would be no math.”
The humor of Raygun can even be seen on the Davenport store’s front door. Under the store’s name and address is the line: “If you hate the stinging pain of human contact, we’re online at raygunsite.com
The store is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays; and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
