Photos of amazing NuPenny toy store in Portland, Maine

I'm sorry I missed the "Grand Not Opening" of Randy Regier's NuPenny Toy store in Portland, Maine last Friday.

Randy had this to say about NuPenny:

[P]erhaps most compelling for me was to attempt to create a physical place and occurrence that appears as if in a dream - familiar and believable yet somehow out of our grasp - in the physical sense but also slightly out of reach of our collective memory. Because of this the door of the NuPenny store is always locked and all text has been rendered in Teletype punch-tape code. The toys are all original constructions of mine; none of the toys are or were vintage playthings, nor are any of them made from toy parts. All toys in my NuPenny store are manufactured from 20th century industrial, scientific and household flotsam and jetsam, and from scratch when necessary.
Conceptually each toy is my interpretation of a song lyric, poem or literary work that has affected me. By using the NuPenny/Teletype code card that is available on this site you can easily (though perhaps not quickly) read the 'text' on each toy, box and placard. More toys will occur, and arrive in the store over time, as I have the means to make them.

More photos after the jump.

Regier Nupenny Portland 04

Regier Nupenny Portland 01

Regier Nupenny Portland 02

NuPenny Toy Store

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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robulus

Lovely work.
cjp

Mr. Regier’s brief autobiography on circleintosquare.com is as entertaining as his ‘store’. I would like to think that someone, somewhere is considering him for a modern art award. This is impressive work on several levels.

Excellent writing from Randy here;
http://www.circleintosquare.com/feature/42
Stefan Jones

Inserting sales flyers into a local free newspaper seems like an apropos collateral activity.
Anonymous

Actually it’s in Waterville which is a bit more than a hop, skip and a jump from Portland!
Gojulas

If it wasn’t for the laundry next door I think it would be awesome if the phone was always ringing.

I’ve had dreams of visiting stores like this. They’re based on memories of visiting Mr. Big Toyland in Waltham, and never having enough money to buy what I wanted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCERFslrYr4&feature=player_embedded
Anonymous

Wonderful work, pls make some video about the persons who comes into the shop.Congratulations from spain. E+
Anonymous

This store just popped up overnight like a mushroom a couple weeks ago. I live just east of Buckman Field and pass by it daily. I’ve never seen toys like these or a store like this for that matter. I want that spaceship tow truck so bad (for my kid) but that guy is NEVER around. I give it 2-3 months.
- joanna
  
  Forgive me if this is obvious to everyone, but I was disappointed to realize that this is an art installation, not an actual store.
  
  “familiar and believable yet somehow out of our grasp – in the physical sense but also slightly out of reach of our collective memory. Because of this the door of the NuPenny store is always locked…”
Anonymous

Amazing work Randy; this installation is truly a something the whole community can enjoy. I hope it stays up for some time.
Gojulas

Is Portland the NEW location for the store? He mentions on his site that he will be moving it from town to town in Maine, and eventually other states, every few months.

I ask because the setup of the store in this post is different than the one on his site.
- Anonymous
  
  It looks like Portland is the new location. The New Systems Laundry building in the photo is definitely in Portland.
CoffeeBlack

Portland is probably just the latest location for the store, but even if it weren’t no one who isn’t from Maine would know where Waterville was. I kind of wish that I was still in Maine to see it but I moved out to Seattle about a year ago because the state’s economy was so depressed that 1 in 7 people was supposedly on food stamps (real statistic from right before I left).

Anyway, finding good contemporary art in a place like Maine is like finding a diamond in your sand box, it’s rare and precious and it’s magnificence is rarely understood by those who live there. I lived in Maine for most of my life (more than 20 years). Things like this don’t happen that often, and when they do they tend to move on really fast.
Anonymous

I feel blessed to own a Randy Regier piece.
Anonymous

but where is it now?????. I’m a little slow in hearing about it but I have this pressing need to go to the store and experience the toys. 2/2011
rjr

The door is locked but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the toys are not for sale. I think if you look at the artist’s website closely he indicates that the toys may indeed be purchased.
Anonymous

I can confirm this store is in Portland–was there on Friday night. He dismantled the Waterville location and rebuilt in this space (which was donated to him.) He hopes to travel around the country with it if he can get funding and donated sites. The magazine I work for recently did a profile on him: http://themainemag.com/profiles/1222-randy-regier.html
Anonymous

I feel blessed to live with many Randy Regier pieces. The current location is on Parris Street in Portland. It moved from Waterville several weeks ago.
Anonymous

Waterville was the first location for NuPenny. It has now moved to Portland. Perhaps Randy is too busy making toys to update his site!
Sekonda

Awesome o.o
cpock

I found Mr.Reiger’s Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/regierart/sets/72157624214603770/ with lots of nice photos and the street address of the current location:
NuPenny Toy Store, Portland, Maine at 82 Parris Street.

I thought that building looked familiar, it’s less then a quarter of a mile from my apartment!
- Anonymous
  
  Thanks for the address, cpock. I know Portland very well and could not place the location from the picture. It’s not in a neighborhood where one would simply stumble across it easily.
Computer@Sea

This is right in my neighborhood!

It seems like a huge win when boingboing posts something that’s happening in your town.
- Anonymous
  
  Your neighborhood? This is my backyard! Seeing it on boingboing is just too, too bizarre.
Computer@Sea

Also, Randy’s work is terrific
Anonymous

According to their website, the store is located in Waterville, ME.
- Anonymous
  
  To Anon #4 and Anon #6-the store IS in Portland. The Waterville location no longer exists. I’m sure the website will be updated soon, however, keep in mind that this is a one-man operation and updates occur when time permits.