Business of The Week: Fairfax Variety

Fairfax Variety

61 Broadway, Fairfax

457-2580

What Fairfax Variety offers?

Fairfax Variety carries everything you didn't know you needed or didn't think you wanted until you see it in the store. You will find one treasure after another, as the shelves are packed from floor to ceiling with all sorts of toys, games, puzzles, silly string, science projects, balls, bats, modeling clay, boomerangs, toy trucks, legos, balsam airplanes, paddleballs, dominos, Yahtzee, pick-up sticks, Mrs. Potato Head, rubber chickens, waffle ball, dominos, trucks, jacks, flip books, wooden blocks, key rings, stick on tattoos, kitchen basics, sundries, baby items, books for children and adults, greeting cards, postcards, doll making kits, miniature Hagen Renaker figurines, stickers, school supplies, basic clothing, party favors, candles, festive paper goods like party bags, Halloween accessories for the upcoming holiday, and many "only in Fairfax" items. 

Silly Bands are the current craze for kids. The store has sold 300 packages (at $2.69 a package) of these in just the past week and a half. They come in bright colors, and fun shapes of animals, symbols and foods. Though they start out the size of paper clips, they stretch to fit on the wrist. Yet when removed, they retain the original shape and size. 

Candy has been a big part of the store since its beginning and they still have penny candy -- the small tootsie rolls which sell for just one cent. Often when kids put a quarter in the dish by the cash register, they are told that a quarter is 25 pennies, and those 25 pennies can buy 25 tootsie rolls. Candy favorites are Abba Zabba, Big Hunk, Salt Water Taffee, Chocolate Coins, Necco Wafers, Juicy Fruits, Red Licorice, Milk Duds, Good & Plenty.  

The store has always been known for tasteful and carefully chosen greeting cards for love, friendship, sympathy, birthday, anniversary, graduation, wedding, congratulations, and get well.  Whether you are looking for something sentimental or humorous, you will find the perfect card at Fairfax Variety.

Halloween is, of course, big business here though there are no full costumes, but rather accessories and decorations like pirate's eye patches, wigs, glasses, spider webs and witch's fingers. 

Fairfax Variety doesn't just stock fun for kids, though.

The kitchen section has most of the cooking and baking basics your grandmother would have needed: pie plates, rolling pins, measuring cups, cork screws, sifters, apple corers, egg slicers. Many of these same brands and items are carried by Dean and Delucca and sold there for three times as much. 

My mom was involved in many charities in Marin County and always seemed to be throwing parties for adults or kids. We bought many rolls of by-the-yard oilcloth here; you can just wipe the cloths clean with a damp sponge.  

There is also a bath department and a host of sundries.

For the past four to five years there has been a large baby boom going on here, so its no surprise the baby section at Fairfax Variety is big. It has doubled in size from what it used to be, full of clothes, many in 100 percent organic cotton, bibs, toys, stuffed animals (including my favorite hand puppet Lambchop), a selection of baby books, and an adorable assortment of hats. The infant clothing styles range from cute to a new edgy line called "Young Punks".

For toddlers to pre-school ages, there is a charming display of children's rubber rain boots, fun lunchboxes, and books like Dick and Jane, and The Little Engine that Could.

Adult clothing covers the basics like underwear, hankies, socks, bandanas, sweat shirts, caps, t-shirts and even footless black lycra fishnet tights (well, maybe not so basic). Many of the clothes, even the onesies, have "Fairfax" written on them. My favorite t-shirt comes in every color and says: "London, Paris, Rome, Fairfax…" I've given this to many house-guests and everyone seems to love it.

Along with party supplies, school supplies can be found too. And it's not just the little kids that shop here. High school kids come often, as there are many items with pirate themes for the Sir Francis Drake pirates.  

There are lots of fun books for adults too, such as The Portable Curmudgeon, 1000 Things to Do Before You Die, and The Ultimate Book of Useless Information and several books by local authors.

The cheapest item in the store is one cent and the most expensive is a large four-foot tall stuffed zebra for $70 -- which would sell for five times the price at FAO Schwartz.

Who are they?

Proprietor Polly Knox bought Fairfax Variety in January of 2001. As you might expect from what she stocks on the shelves, Knox has a great imagination, a sense of whimsy, and a good humor about life itself.

Knox moved to Fairfax in 1998 and Fairfax Variety was always her favorite store in town. She deals with over 250 vendors, attends the toy fair in New York and the gift show in San Francisco, and purchases many items from catalogues. Whatever catches her eye she buys and customers often request things. Recently, she was excited to find a Turkish Taffee by Bonomo's, which her East Coast customers remember and love. 

Last week, she took a day trip up to Truckee to visit a similar store, but says she has more items! 

Knox walks to work and when she gets there she cranks the tunes. Customers know they can hear great music, like Otis Redding, playing in the background.

How long have they been here?

With quite a long history, this store has been a big part of Fairfax for decades. In the 1920s, it was a hardware store, then a five and dime store in the 50s, and when Chuck and Hazel Vergara, who owned the store for 25 years, bought it they named it Fairfax Variety. (The Vergaras also owned the Koffee Klatch for 35 years and Chuck had his movie posters in the small store next door, which is now the Scoop.)

Except for the name, Fairfax Variety hasn't changed much since I was a kid growing up in Fairfax in the 1950s. It used to be called The Five and Dime, and I remember an S & H Green Stamp sign hanging in the front. The double swing doors are the same, as is the wood floor. This is a store with a heart, in the heart of Fairfax.

Why is it business of the week?

Part of the reason Fairfax Variety is such a success is the town itself.  Customers, young and old, are extremely loyal to the store and everybody has a great time shopping here. From small kids to teenagers to adults, this store has things you both want and need, and much that will make you chuckle.

On a recent early Saturday morning, I hung out just to see who might wander in and what they might be purchasing. What I found out is that Fairfax Variety has so many wonderful items that parents use shopping there as a way to get kids to do chores.

Emmett Marks, 5, knows "all about this place. I've been coming here since I was little," he said. He just finished the first week of kindergarten and was buying Star Wars Legos to take to his cousin's house in Oregon. His mother said he gets an allowance and Fairfax Variety is his motivation to do chores.

Though Mike and his kids now live in Petaluma, Fairfax Variety Store is how he gets the kids to behave at the barber shop next door, by offering them a treat of their choice. His twins, Stella and Cooper, 4, chose tootsie roll pops, and Finnegan, 7, wanted Rolos, though he was negotiating with his dad about the amount he could consume before lunch.

Alex Silver, who now lives in Montreal, stopped in to pick up some post cards of Fairfax Variety to remind him of home. He's been shopping here since he was 13 or 14-years-old and especially remembers the great kaleidoscopes.

Jeremiah, 10, wanted Silly Bands. "They are awesome," he said. He chose the "sweet treats" food shape and opened the package immediately, putting several bands around his wrist. 

Tom Sebastian, from Lagunitas, stopped by to get a party bag for a boy named Noah, who has several birthdays every year. In the blink of an eye, Knox and Sebastian put together a fun and colorful bag of goodies.

The Lego window display is big with the community too. Once a year kids can bring in their lego creations, which Knox puts in the windows. Last year, Sebastian's son, Gray, had an award-winning three-foot long 747 airplane that he built with his brother Beau. 

If Fairfax has cleaner sidewalks than other towns, well-mowed lawns, leaves raked off driveways, garbage and recycling in the proper cans, that is, at least partially, due to the vast selection of treats and treasures to bribe kids with at Fairfax Variety. Not only is this a store with heart -- if its wares are tempting enough to get kids to do chores for an allowance to be spent there -- I'd say this store is a must visit for adults and kids alike.  Bring your pennies and your sense of humor. 

Oh, and on your birthday stop in for party snaps. They're free.  And if you forget your ruby slippers, don't worry about it, Fairfax Variety has them.