Ever wonder where all that lost luggage goes to? Well, a great number are never found until after the airlines have compensated their owners monetarily for their loss. Do you ever wish to find a specialty store where every member of your family can enjoy shopping? Enter the emergence of a new term to our technical age shopping vocabulary: Extreme Stores. Extreme Superstores are megastores/markets where you can find almost anything and everything from designer apparel, electronics, food, antiques, home decor, and more at great prices…plus be entertained. Their claim to fame is that they are the world’s largest in their field. Check out these sites for the bargains:

Jungle Jim’s International Market (Farfield, Ohio)

• 50,000 customers/day
• Guided tours available
• Rows upon rows of food from around the world
• Several unique food items, food company displays, and events
• Trams, giraffes, cooking school, and more–oh my!

Archie McPhee® (Seattle, WA)

• Collectibles, silly gag gifts
• Most popular items: devil duckie, largest pair of underwear (100 inch waist), bacon-themed items, pirates, and action figures.
• They have a bridal registry, games, contests and prizes
• 80,000 visitors/year

Rei®

• 1.5 million visitors/year
• Sports exporium, bike repair shop, and indoor and outdoor real-life trails in one
• Motto: “Try before you buy”-they have an indoor hike trail, 65 ft (7 story high) indoor climbing wall and outdoor bicycle course
• Find the right outdoor sport’s gear here
• Bonus: Check out Rei-Outlet.com for extra savings

Unclaimed Baggage Center™ (Scottsborough, Alabama)

• 800,000 visitors/year
• 80% markdowns
• Airlines have 90 days to give back lost luggage, then they refund individual’s money, so this store buys stuff from airline companies
• More than 7,000 stock items: jewelry, wallets, luggage, scuba gear, golf items, and more!

Bonanza Gift Shop-World’s Largest Gift Shop (Las Vegas, NV)

• Largest gift store in the world
• Vegas trinkets, nasty items and kitch
• T-shirts, magnets, postcards, key chains, clocks, casino gear, Elvis sunglasses and memorabilia, music, etc…
• Wedding area inside
• Best gag gift: Insulting Parrot Polly. $19.99
• 0.5 million customers/year

Daffin’s Candy (Sharon, Pennsylvania)

• Largest candy store (20,000 sq feet)
• 320 barrels of hard candy throughout the world
• 1,000 different items
• Chocolate factory nearby produces 1.2 million lbs chocolate/year
• Customers get to sample everything in the store
• Cocoa Display: large dioramas and animals, e.g. 400 lb solid chocolate turtle
• 10,000 people in one day (on busiest)

San Jose Flea Market (San Jose, California)

• 8-mile long, 120 acres
• Vendors, Farmer’s market, Auto dealership, Entertainment Showroom: arcade games, Mariachi band
• 4 million people/yr come

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Tags: megastores

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