DESCRIPTION 826 National Stores Retail Catalog CLIENT Self Promotion DATE June 2009 DESIGN CREDITS Eliana Stein PRINT CREDITS WesCan TYPE CREDITS Trade Gothic and unidentified serif

QUANTITY PRODUCED 2,500 PRODUCTION COST Not Disclosed PRODUCTION TIME 12 Weeks DIMENSIONS: WIDTH × HEIGHT × DEPTH 5.5 in. × 8 in. × 0.6 in. PAGE COUNT 190 PRINT METHOD Offset NUMBER OF COLORS 4-Color CMYK

Established in San Francisco in 2002 by renown writer Dave Eggers and educator Nínive Calegari, 826 is a unique organization that tutors and provides workshops for kids ages six to eighteen on writing and ultimately on creative expression. The San Francisco building where the classes took place, located at 826 Valencia Street (hence the name 826), was zoned commercial and the logical thing to do was to set up a pirate supply storefront which, according to David Byrne, is “definitely one of the top five pirate stores.” (The pirate store was recently redesigned and restocked by Office). And in that same spirit, the other six chapters have equally amusing storefronts: The Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute at 826 Boston, the Boring Store at 826 Chicago, the Echo Park Time Travel Mart at 826 LA (designed by Stefan Bucher), the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair at 826 Michigan, the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. at 826 NYC (designed by Sam Potts), and the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co. at 826 Seattle.

Since not all Americans are confined to these seven cities with 826 retail stores, the fine folks at 826 National have issued a 190-page catalog with all of their products, organized by store. Printed simply and handsomely in offset, the catalog is page after page of idiosyncratic products which the copy on the back cover only begins alluding to:

At last, the 826 stores have teamed up and created a catalog to sell their wares. Superheroes, no longer will you have to fly to New york to get an Evil Blob Containment Capsule. Need a Black Hole Starter Kit but can’t make it to Seattle? Not a problem anymore. We’ve got your Sea Serpent Secretions, Wiretapping Kit, and Positronic Brain right here. All sales are final (that goes double for leeches).

If you see no need for a Secret Identity Kit, you can purchase the catalog for $12.00. And, to be honest, this is one of the best compendiums of packaging design (and creative writing) out there.