Re: My Odds & Ends: ALMOST EVERYTHING SPECIAL!!
Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2022 9:48 am
Now here is a local store that has been gone about a decade already. It was one of My favorites to go to. Whenever Me & My Grandma were out and about to go to her bank on Hampton and grocery shopping at Schnucks[b]. Sometimes I'd what to go to Target but I also I wanted to go to check out ALMOST EVERYTHING. Back in the times when I was a youngster and even these days of later times, Hampton Avenue was so fun, I have showcased Hampton Village before within this topic when I showcased Johnny Brock's. We were quite thrilled that a new store was opening up there in the early/mid 2000s and when Almost Everything was ready to open We weren't a bit disappointed. They were mostly a sports store. They really focused on our beloved St. Louis Cardinals of MLB, the St. Louis Blues of NHL and of course the St. Louis Rams when they were here (shows you how long it's been). It was always pleasant there. They had an odd entry way, you entered the store from the back door Yep but actually I liked that way because it was different. There wasn't many sports stores around in Our area believe it or not. There was one further down on Hampton but it was hardly open so We never gave it chance. Sadly Almost Everything has been defunct at least a decade now
Almost Everything & Louie's Pizza Co.
Here is the building they were in and shared it with Louie's Pizza Co. Both are unfortunately out of business. I will talk about Louie's in a moment. They were the second door on the left of Elite Title, Almost Everything, the third door on the left/middle from Elite Title which is still there on the corner/first door.
So here is the back entrance I was talking about in the prolog. It was really convenient to do this because it was a really large parking lot plus it was very easy to access when Me & My Grandma MiMi was doing our banking as the bank is right next door on the other side of the lot. It was really cool seeing Louie's Pizza Dudes coming out of the back getting their orders ready to deliver
So as a special bonus, here is Louie's Pizza Co. I thought show them too since they were also major part of My life for a long while. They were really good. They had some issues along the way like oh we have to discontinue our Hot Dogs, burger & Chicken Wraps when We always ordered them from Louie's but according to their explanations it did no good and just didn't sell enough. As foolish as they seemed they had such great food items. They specialized in Chicago Pizza but also St. Louis Style Pizza as well. If you never had St. Louis Style Pizza, its very thin crust and arguably the best type. I loved their taste. I loved to dip their Calzones, Strombolis & Mozzarella Cheese Sticks in Marinara & Garlic Butter Sauce. I absolutely loved their Fries, they arguably had the absolute best Fries, I would order at least two cartons each time We'd order from Louie's. They had some great Chicken Tenders & Breast as well. I really liked to get their 32 oz soft drinks. The 2 usual delivery dudes for a very long time was a somewhat moody but nice Caucasian guy who always wore a Mizzou cap and a the other was a crippled up Black guy. I always felt sorry for him and he was very nice too. In Louie's final years and of course their last days before the p!@Demic a younger guy, teenage-like was extremely charming and always thanked Me for the business. He'd always go back right away if an item was missing and be back ASAP with it. Even though they no longer exist, today the company has been totally taken over a new company & management and their new name is Salvage Yard Bar and Grill. When the TPTB slowed down the p!@Demic this happened and I was really bummed about it. I have no idea how their food is nor if their doing good business or not. No matter how good they are they will never replace the original Louie's. So here is Louie's logo. I loved how they depicted St. Louis & Chicago together. It was such a very creative box graphic on their part. I mean back in the day the most greatest rivalries was the Yankees & Red Sox and then their was the St. Louis Cardinals & the Chicago Cubs and Louie's brought that mental aspect every time you ordered from them
No here is special that I made of Louie's & Almost Everything back to restoration the way it was back in the day
So now going back to focus on Almost Everything. the owner of the great shop was Chip Bartz. He has small eBay store still but like anything that is digital and has a digital location, its absolutely nothing compared to the physical item and/or physical area. I mean in this androgynous day & age where this generation is obsessed with digitality, VR, Meta and streaming has no clue how it was going to old fashion stores regardless of what kind they were nor do they care. Its so pathetic, it irks Me a lot. TPTB has conditioned this limbolic society so much, its beyond deplorable I mean the thrill of going to places like this was fun So many times when We went to Almost Everything the nice lady that I do not recall her name was usually there and sometimes Chip Bartz was too and he was a decent fellow. He gave Me his business card. It's quite fancy with puffy raised lettering. I have kept it in pristine shape and HERE IT IS
So during the early days of Almost Everything's, I appreciate the great sports stuff but he had a special section where he had toys which was mostly adult collectibles. He had some McFarlane action figures. I had some of'em but then I noticed he had he the movie figures from the 2000 movie Little Nicky. I wasn't absolutely crazy about the film but gosh I had to have the figures because not only are they McFarlane but he had the entire collection and get this...they were only about $2.99 a piece His stuff was very cheap and arguably the most affordable place of the whole region. So it was a no brainer that I had to get everyone he had The good guy's comic shop down the street on Hampton was great too (I have spoken about him before, more on him in a later showcase) but charged a lot more for his McFarlane figures however I miss his little comic a lot too I had previously and briefly showcased My Little Nicky figures in My overlooked ginormous Halloween topic that I posted last year along with so many other great spooky stuff in My collection
So that wasn't all that I got from his wonderfully fun shop, I got a lot of other things but here is 2 major...MAJOR PRIZED items that I got from Almost Everything and these two were the Headliners XL MARK MCGWIRE and the We Shocked The World: 2006 St. Louis Cardinal Win the World Series Book!
As I spoke just a moment ago about how cheap My Little Nickyfigures were, well check the lovely price stickers here My Headliners XL Mark McGwire was only a $1.99 My special Cardinals Book was only $4.99 Now where in the world could you get this terrific MLB merchandise at for these insanely low prices...huh.. you tell Me Now see, this was way before this era we're stuck in now where prices keep on soaring to ridicules heights on just about everything especially action figures & collectibles alike. Things were much, much cheaper then but Almost Everything was really the cheapest around which to this very moment I have never understood why his great shop went under...one of the reasons I know is because of people of course
So here they are in more detail...you didn't think I'd skip this did ya Since when do I skip visual details in a major showcase If you thought that then you haven't been paying attention to My style and Methods much at all So here we go with My Mark McGwire XL Headliner. Now this is going to be a bit different because I have NEVER took him out of the package, I have kept him the way I got him. When I saw this great looking figurine of him at Almost Everything, I immediately had to get him. If you recall Me talking about him & Baseball in the wrestling topics, this is when I revealed how much I loved him and how he became a new hero of Mine, even as late at 17 in 98 However, I just wasn't into Mark and was for Our beloved St. Louis Cardinals but I became a major Baseball fan and I loved it as much as wrestling. I just didn't watch the Cardinals games on a regular basis but I also watched many other teams' games as well, I kept up with all 30 teams (99 was My first full years a big fan, it was so thrilling to be one), collected 3 major sets of Baseball Cards and so much more. This was IMO the best time of the game when it seemed special, when there was tons of records being made and being broken, tons of great personalities that you could love or hate, stuff to root for unlike today's conditioned status. I was one of the biggest fans of MLB you could meet from 98 to 2007 but now, well, it's just not the same anymore...just compare the classic wrestling stuff to today's...this should gave you a good idea of what I'm trying to tell you. Oh and you never listened to a ball game on the radio until you heard a Cardinals ball game being called by Jack Buck & Mike Shannon, that was so fun back in the day So My McGwire Headliner is made by Equity. They specialized in sports items especially in big head figurines like this. I'm not an absolute fan of this type of figure but if it looks good, cheap and is what I like then I'll take it, I'm not that picky like most others. The sculpting is just tremendous. This is the second best "Big Mac" figure I have, the first is My McFarlane Big League Challenge figure, that one there is one of the greatest pieces EVER MADE regardless of series and/or genre which I will showcase in time in My Various Modern Action figure Topic. This Headliner is quite accurate with his big arms, gloves and left elbow pad & shin guard as that was always his trademark look. However, he has brown eyes, he actually has green eyes as he is a red head. I got the "away" version" as his uniform is in gray. I have always loved the look of the Cardinals when they were visiting the other teams. The box looks ok but it isn't detailed much at all which is a bit of a bummer as it just says what the series is about, who's in it and so forth but there is a good Copyright there however on the bottom. The date is 1998, he looks absolutely superb for this time as the McFarlane figure didn't come out till 2000 Maybe one day I'll open him up. If I do, I'll showcase him and continue this section's subject of the topic whenever the time calls for it
We Shocked The World: 2006 St. Louis Cardinal Win the World Series Book is a special by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Surely you are familiar this great publication. If you are then you'll know how much stuff this paper covers. I loved looking at it for the show times, the comics (My Grandma MiMi mostly loved the Garfield ones) and of course Baseball! Sometimes they would make some great specials but I just loved their books. I love Baseball books like this. I love to feel them and just getting into that moment of what happen and when your talkin' now...how it was back then. Now for years the St. Louis Cardinals were coming close to winning the pennant. 2000 was excellent but they just weren't good enough. I was especially thrilled in 2005 when we got "The Cardinal Killer" Larry Walker & Mark Grudzielanek, we even acquired Reggie Sanders and we still had the unbelievable Jim Edmonds & Scott Rolen. This team was one of the best baseball teams ever put together, it was baseball fantasy lovers dream true but unfortunately they didn't win Then came 2006, the team changed a bit, Grudz & Reggie was gone and Walker had to retire...if they would've stayed ya know what They would have been champs cause the Cards WON I kept on saying around the house for months that these guys are the comeback kids...THE COMEBACK KIDZ because they had a surreal record, they started terrible, later in the season beat most of everybody and won the whole darn thing...it was so dang incredible, something like this rarely happens and if you missed it then you missed one heck of a season If only Reggie & Walker would have stayed they could have had that moment and what a moment it was. I saw it all from beginning to end, I have watched many world series' for many years but none of them comes close to this, not even Joe Torre's first win as the Yankees in 96 and keep in mind, always keep in mind that this is coming from a major baseball fan that just doesn't root for his home team but is mostly unbiased and loves watching the other teams too
NOTE: As much as I loved the Cards winning, it has always been kinda bittersweet for Me because I liked the 2005 team more oh and "The Machine" Albert Pujols was still with the Cards, a few years later he showed his TRUE COLORS making it known he didn't the love the game nor it's beautiful cities, he became money hungry, joined The Los Angeles Angels and from then on his career went down hill...he had one of the most unbelievable records & stats in ever seen in baseball with the Cards and had only 1 year in AAA...now look him
So here is the front cover, the contents, the publisher's info, the Cards' Manager Tony LaRussa finally getting the WIN after all those years of hard work and the team celebrating.
Here is some great moments including Yadier Molina and Ivan" Pudge" Rodriquez together and Scott Spiezio as a Cardinal and winning it. I was quite thrilled he was with us
More great moments including Scott Rolen & David Eckstein joyfully drenched. Oh here is a moment. Cardinals Pitching Coach Dave Duncan is celebrating with his son Chris. A few more years later Chris would shockingly pass away
Here is the conclusion to the great book, Here is some of the fans of the Cardinals and Tony LaRussa with the General Manger Walt Jocketty and then the back cover of the book.
So as I have said in the past, I have a very large collection of Baseball items. Some doesn't really fit in My action figure topics like My 3 huge Baseball Cards Sets, 2 that really goes together which is by Upper Deck & Victory that I have really fondness of and it took so much for Me to complete'em and the other is by Topps which is one of the largest sets ever produced as each team set has every player on that roster of that year. I have'em all including the chase cards I have many other special sets & books as well. If I decide to present and/or I get demand for it and instead of making a whole new topic I will showcase them here cause I think' this is the place to do it
That's it for this special and I hope you liked it If your just now seeing this then you totally missed My showcase of Almost Everything and the cool Cardinals stuff + more and a little unique presentation on Louie's Pizza. This topic keeps on getting better & better with pure nostalgia and surprises and so much more. Another great showcase is coming soon, until then I'll see you around