MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — There's a place in south Minneapolis unlike anything else in the Twin Cities.
Brad McGinty has a hard time describing it.
"I don't know," said McGinty, laughing. "I should have a better response but it's mostly the stuff I like in a store and I figure that if I like this stuff, other people would probably like it."
Odd Mart opened on Lyndale Avenue in the Wedge neighborhood last October.
When people would walk by the shop when it first opened, McGinty recalled their reactions, saying, "'Oh, what's this? Is this a popup?'... for Halloween they thought it was Halloween. A lot of people from outside thought it was a dispensary."
Odd Mart is a "store of the strange." Art and toys depicting monsters, skulls and eyeballs can be found around the store.
McGinty's art is prominently featured throughout the store. His company "Glorp Gum" is marketed as the only gum that comes with a free t-shirt. A gumball is attached to each t-shirt.
"The gum is $28 and the shirt is totally free," McGinty said.
About 12 years ago, McGinty was working as an animator. He had just moved from Atlanta to Minneapolis and was working remotely.
"I knew my job wasn't going to last probably; working remotely wasn't working out so well from Atlanta. So Minneapolis had a lot of really good t-shirt places to print, and the apparel industry is really big here. I did a few shirts to fund my trips back and forth to comic conventions and two of the shirts kind of went viral," McGinty recalled.
Glorp Gum outgrew the attic and moved into a basement. Then during the pandemic, "The riots happened and I live here in the neighborhood. I wanted to see something cool in the neighborhood and rents had gotten cheap enough," McGinty said.
But Odd Mart features many different creators, including local artists. Matthew Eng's creations are featured under his business, Monster Matt's Creepy Crafts.
"The main thing are my Nightmare Ponies which are little Dollar Tree My Little Ponies that I then customize and then turn into different visions and just other things that I repurpose so that they're just a little creepier," Eng said.
Eng said Odd Mart is very much a "collective of weirdos."
Odd Mart also has a vintage room, hard-to-find indie books, comics and zines.
"I grew up in Atlanta. My parents worked in fast food and we didn't have a lot of money but I could always buy cheap quarter-bin comics," McGinty said. "I could get a lot of comics for a little amount of money. I've always been interested in black-and-white comics from the early '80s and '90s. So that's what we have here."
Since opening, McGinty said the response has been positive.
"It's kind of sappy but I really do like it a lot," McGinty said. "It seems like people really gravitate towards it and I don't know... I guess... this was kind of missing around here."
Odd Mart will host Giganticon on Sunday, March 24 from noon to 5 p.m. It will feature local comics artists and dealers, along with the La Cocina food truck.
Sunday, March 31 the shop will host Transgender Day of Visibility Market by Fruitcake Markets.
Odd Mart
2520 Lyndale Avenue S.
Minneapolis, MN 55405
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