Spencer Gifts Tiki 2005

HELLO ALL! TikiMikeNJ here! I'm a newbie here! LOL, Anyhoo my buddy Jim is a district sales manager for Spencer Gifts. He just informed me that the Summer 2005 TIKI Line is hitting stores soon! Everyone should see it on display by April 4 or 5th! It may not be vintage Tiki but its some cool new stuff stuff to add to your bar or collection! Anyone know of anyplace in the NJ/Philadelphia area where I could find some vintage TIKI? Let me know thanks guys!

On 2005-03-24 09:27, TikiMikeNJ wrote:
Anyone know of anyplace in the NJ/Philadelphia area where I could find some vintage TIKI?

Spencer's Gifts

Thanks For The Help Unga

That's Unga's humor for ya: Drier than a dry Martini.

Thanks for the heads up, Mike! I am sure someone here knows some sources in your area...

Welcome Mike!
What's up with Tiki and NJ? Outside of Florida and California I've sold more Tikis to NJ than anywhere!! You guys should find each other and throw a party!

On 2005-03-24 11:25, bigbrotiki wrote:
That's Unga's humor for ya: Drier than a dry Martini.

:D I'll drink to that!
Welcome to TC Mike!
We are even more interested in You, than Spencers. Type in a few things about yourself here , and enjoy your stay!

On 2005-03-24 11:33, seamus wrote:
Welcome Mike!
What's up with Tiki and NJ? Outside of Florida and California I've sold more Tikis to NJ than anywhere!! You guys should find each other and throw a party!

well ... NJ has a huge population. it's the most densely populated state in the union.

overall, it's pretty wealthy here too. so, folks have the disposable income to blow on stuff like tikis.

w/ JFK, la guardia, newark & philly airports all relatively close, lots of folks from NJ have actually been to hawaii. so, similar to california, many people here have memories of going to hawaii in the 50's - 70's.

& there's a significant connection between NJ & florida (folks having 2nd homes in florida etc).

there are a handful of old "polynesian" restaurants mostly clustered in the northern suburbs.

vintage tiki & hawaiiana are fairly common.

plus, the jersey shore is pretty lengthy, making it a suitable environment for the different types of tiki enthusiasts:

surf culture thrives; parrotheads are not uncommon here. also, all sorts of hipsters in & around NYC & Philly (not to mention towns like asbury park & montclair) probably account for some of your sales too.

tc

On 2005-03-24 09:27, TikiMikeNJ wrote:
Anyone know of anyplace in the NJ/Philadelphia area where I could find some vintage TIKI? Let me know thanks guys!

e komo mai tikimikenj. check out the search feature at the top right of the screen. type in "new jersey" or "philadelphia" & enjoy.

there are a few nj people here. i live near the shore in monmouth co.

take care,
chris

all sorts of hipsters in & around NYC & Philly (not to mention towns like asbury park & montclair)

Montclair hipster here. It helps that we have a handful of Tiki bars within a short drive of each other.

Thanks for the welcome and info guys!

Hey, WELCOME!

I can tell you that you won't find a damn thing in philly. In the 2 years I've lived here, I've gotten 2 mugs, and a Witco tiki. And I search the thrift stores every single weekend. Every thrift store in the city. Jersey on the other hand, you might have a good chance. I've never ventured over to Jersey, and I'm sure there's a lot of flea markets.

Welcome to Tiki Central!

not a thing in the cleveland area spencers yet.

They're clearing out all the poker stuff from the Philly Area Spencer's.

I asked an employee at the Mishawaka, Indiana Spencer's and she told me that the front half of her district's stores will be tikified by April 16.

[ Edited by: astrosurf on 2005-03-27 10:00 ]

I just went to Spencer's last night. Unfortunately the only thing they had out was a light up light that had a tiki painted on it. It was 24.99, not really worth it. No one at the store had any idea of more items coming in.

I looked too to see if anything new was there. But 4-16-05 thats good to know. I did see one of those green moai heads cheaper than I bought it, @ the price of 9.99.

On 2005-03-29 05:48, Dawn32 wrote:
I just went to Spencer's last night. Unfortunately the only thing they had out was a light up light that had a tiki painted on it. It was 24.99, not really worth it. No one at the store had any idea of more items coming in.

How disappointing! But thanks for the tip.

I checked out the Spencer's near work today on my lunch hour, and they've received their tiki merchandise.

I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I ended up with 14 shot glasses. 10 came with the Tiki Taki Toe game, which I thought would go nicely with last year's tiki Chinese checkers from Target.

I was able to resist most of what they had to offer, but there was a cute little purse/tote that I had to have.

On 2005-03-29 05:48, Dawn32 wrote:
I just went to Spencer's last night. Unfortunately the only thing they had out was a light up light that had a tiki painted on it. It was 24.99, not really worth it. No one at the store had any idea of more items coming in.

Yeah, I've been checking back at the same Spencer's, and the same girl keeps showing me the same damned signs and telling me about the store's layout by the 16th, again and again.

My local Spencers put up the display Saturday night. The "tiki bar" looks like a tiki themed hot dog stand... I think they called it a "tiki sand bar". Fake metal sheets adorn the sides, although a couple cool looking fake tiki drums are also present. Some other tiki stuff they had was nice... three sets of different mugs (2 for $13). An aku looking glass container with drink mix (think smaller version of the tj maxx ones). A couple shirts with tiki's on them (and surfboards), a couple beaded curtains with tropical themes, a tiki voodoo lounge floor rug (maybe two by four feet in size), a cool tiki pole (it's plastic with buble floating in it). A two and a half foot plastic tiki. Hmph... tiki mini shot glasses (and a tiki-tac-toe game with the same shot glasses). That might have been it. On the whole it was very plasticy looking, but still kind of cool.

Just got back from my local Spencer's; everything is up! The mugs are cool, but too bad there are two-of-the-same in each box.

The drum stools are cool, too!

P.S. Why didn't anyone mention the bocce ball set? It rocks!

Walked into Spencers today just as they were putting out their tiki stuff. They have a tiki bar similar to the one they had last year, mugs, shots, lights, swizzles etc etc...they said they still have more to put out. I did see a cool 32" tiki (made of resin or plastic or something) for $40.00...almost bought it but I need to convince my wife we have to have it.

I really liked the mugs...they had 3 different styles and I bought 2 of them (pic below). They come 2 to a set for $12.99. The set I didn't buy look similar to the Orchids R-1 (headhunter?) and they had them in yellow. I'll be going back this weekend to see what else they have and to probably buy that 32-incher.

Juno, Great Score!

Those look really cool.. but look similar to the pones that Party City is selling.

Am I just imagining things or does that font style look a lot like TC's??

I just got back from Spencers too, where I ended buying a set of each of their mugs - 6 in total. I love the colors of them, and how it looks like the paint has worn out around certain features.

I was tempted to buy their rotating tiki head chip holder, which comes with 4 plastic cups. Push in the bowl's tiki nose, and the chip bowl spins around and around while a fuzzy recording of some exotica drumming plays. Then the bowl stops rotating, and the tiki starts talking - the mouth actually opens up and down, and the eyes light up red. There are various things the tiki chip bowl says - things like 'Tiki says people who do not at first succeed, should not try skydiving' It is truly bizarre and wild.

At the time I couldn't bring myself to buy it - it was priced at $20, as the material was plastic and the colors were garish Party Store. Plus the sound quality of the voice and music wasn't the best, not to mention it wouldn't really go with the more natural feel of my tiki room.

But now as I'm thinking about it, I think I should have got it - it reminds me a bit of a cheap animatronic version of Disney's Enchanted Tiki Land .... and then there is the whole 'spin the bottle, where will the tikis gaze fall' mysterious angle to it (a future tiki drinking game?), not to mention a tiki head taking the place of the 'Confuscious say' fortunes.

They also had some large sized, dark brown, plastic tiki heads - I thought they looked fairly decent, but not as good as a real carvings, or those colored translucent ones that they used to sell that lit up within.

Let's see, they also had tiki shot glasses, that you could wear around your necks as a pendant - these were in style of the tiki mugs above. They had some plastic tiki signs - one with a hula girl on it was kind of neat, and they also had flip-flops with vintage hula girl graphics on the surface that the foot sits - I debated buying some of these for wall decor.

There was a 3-D tiki face that had a n open mouth where the fake flame cloth flickered, but the face was a cross between tiki and a hat wearing voodoo figure, and something just seemed a bit odd about it all.

Vern

Kono, you're not imagining things... that definitely looks like a rip-off/homage, whichever way you choose to look at it, of Tiki Central's logo font!

Kono, you're not imagining things... that definitely looks like a rip-off/homage, whichever way you choose to look at it, of Tiki Central's logo font!

It's really, really close. Is the Tiki Central logo a custom font? Maybe Hanford could tell us.

I just compared the two fonts up close - they are of two different styles. For example, the T of our logo has a small vertical segment that rises above the top horizontal cross-section, while the Spencer logo does not.

The left side of our 'C' is made of curved lines, while Spencer's 'C' is made entirely of a series of short segments. Also, the perimeter of our 'K' is made up of 11 straight line segments, while the Spencer logo has 14 segments.

They are very similar in style, but two different fonts.

Vern

Those look really cool.. but look similar to the ones that Party City is selling.

I just saw the Party City mugs and you're right....gotta be made by the same company. Just different packaging.

Walked by Spencers last night...bad move. Our store has everything out. I took home a couple of items.

This is about 3 foot tall and is a lighted bubbler. It's not a very good photo but there are various tiki faces that fit over a sleeve of water. At the bottom there's a light and a color wheel that change constantly AND the water bubbles so you can see the light through the tiki's eyes and mouth openings. I believe it was either $40 or $50.

This guy is 3 foot tall and is made of a light weight foam. And ya all...he has butt cheeks! This one was $40.

Yep, $50. I took one home yesterday on my lunch hour. For every $25 that you spend there, you get a tiki shot glass on a leather strap, that can be worn like a necklace. I don't see why these were made, but I bought a couple more for the helluvit.

Thanks for the tip all. Picked up the floor mat yesterday. Like the Tiki bar lights as well. Maybe when I get more "Kala"

I got that Talking Tiki bowl, it's a gas! Gave one to Weird Unc (see his birthday party thread) and one to Kevin so he can show his Disney superiors that animatronics can be done cheaply, and maybe the Marc Davis poles and drummers could be next in the Tiki Room merchandise chain.

I was also intrigued by Spencer's Mai Tai Tiki popcycle set. But when I opened it, I was dissappointed by the cheapness of the thin clear plastic molds. Nevertheless, I commenced to make some. I made four with the Mai Tai mix that was in the package, and two with my mix, lime juice and dark rum, and two with minced mint leaves. Quite delicious.

One advice is to ad enough water, or it will stay slushy and not freeze. The other: The wooden handle sticks have to be lifted in the back by putting a thin sipping straw (or something) underneath so that the front dips deep enough into the mix. The way the molds are made they would just be stuck flat to the back and brake off easily.

Also, Tiki swizzle sticks might be used in place of the wooden ones.

I went today and got the talking tiki bowl and a couple of the spears.

The talking bowl makes my dog howl every time I start him up. :lol:

The spears I put behind my computer desk. They were $9.99 each.

I wish they'd sell the necklace stand. It's the best tiki thing they have.

I didn't see the spears in my local store! I'll have to bug them about it!

Kono, by any chance is that Flamin' Ku mask by the World Famous Suburban_Savage?

On 2005-04-22 13:19, badmojo wrote:
Kono, by any chance is that Flamin' Ku mask by the World Famous Suburban_Savage?

Yup, that it would be!

Ha! I wondered if I would ever stumble across
one of my castings in someones decor pics. I love the spears. Might have to get to Spencers afterall.

To see some of their products, here are a direct links:
http://spencergifts.com/prodmaster.asp?proddept=voodoolounge

http://spencergifts.com/prodmaster.asp?proddept=drinkup

Some of the stuff doesn't look like I would care for it.. but I'm sure my wahine would love it. I think she's a closet parrothead.

just got back from spencer's.....picked up the the tall bubble lamp...it was about the coolest thing they had. I'll probably grab another one as I'm using them on the bar to act as a faux posts that hold up the roof above the bar. the roof is actually attached to the ceiling so no weight will actually be on the lamps, but it will look like it is. I have to add a section of base to raise them up alittle as they are too short to go the whole way up. -no spears yet in this store, but I was informed that they all get their shipments in on monday, so if they are out of stock on something, go back in on a monday. I bought the last bubble lamp and got it at a great discount because it was the display model, plus another 10% off for joining the club. I didn't care for the rest of the stuff...just alot of poorly designed cheap tiki crap. ...coming soon, to a garage sale near you!!

Crazy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29460&item=3971680654&rd=1

That's a Spencer's foam tiki.

I believe some of the tiki items at Spencers are on sale this week. The normally $40 carving as seen on eBay above rang up at $32.

The staff behind the counter got into a discussion about they hadn't seen that on the list of sale items, so that must mean there's more.

Also, I got a $10 gift card with the purchase and some sort of game piece for a contest.

On 2005-05-06 23:32, Hot Lava wrote:
I believe some of the tiki items at Spencers are on sale this week. The normally $40 carving as seen on eBay above rang up at $32.

The staff behind the counter got into a discussion about they hadn't seen that on the list of sale items, so that must mean there's more.

Also, I got a $10 gift card with the purchase and some sort of game piece for a contest.

Yup. Got my bubbling tiki lamp today with 25% off. Hey - does anybody else's lamp like this make a damnable **"hummmmmm" ** when on?? I really didn't notice the one in the store being so noisy!! I gotta crank up the Arthur Lyman to cover the noise!! (Not really a bad thing....but still!!)

All tiki stuff is 25% off at Spencer. Picked up a big "specials" chalkboard and a Moai glass jar filled with a drink mix (but no directions).

On 2005-05-07 15:27, Rum Balls wrote:
All tiki stuff is 25% off at Spencer. Picked up a big "specials" chalkboard and a Moai glass jar filled with a drink mix (but no directions).

The directions are as follows: 1) leave it sealed for ever and just look at; or 2) empty it and make it into a lamp. Whatever you do, don't drink it.

Yea, I got the Moai bottle 'cuz it looked good, not for drinking purposes! A lamp...now that's a good idea!

if you drink it.. it will warp your mind and you will become like me, one of the weird ones the old people whisper about and mothers shield their children's eyes when you pass by.

..or you could make it into a lamp and save yourself from a lifetime of immortal damnation.

Just thought everyone would like to know. The 25% off sale was still going on as of last night. I went in to purchase some extra stuff and when I asked they said that 25% off was only on Sunday, but when I was rang up it was still on sale. So don't take the cashier's word. Also if you spend $25 on top of the discount you get a $10 gift card to use next month.