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Show Just what you need to cure a chronic case of Cabin Fever i --::v s v- 1 i M ; vX - fr. n f -u viy .fl "' ' 'P'V A A v - "HT f .r. t c J- 5 ' if I TV. ! by Randy Hanskat "We're a contemporary greeting card store, carrying carry-ing from the ridiculous to the sublime. You won't find any Hallmark or American Greeting cards here," says Cabin Fever co-owner Jim McAndrew. "Sure," I say. "Show me." I hang up the phone and stumble down the street to the old wooden building that once housed the Park City Chamber, expecting another Close Encounter of the Dull Kind. At least it will be over soon, I think. After all, how much stuff could be in a card store? Opening the door to Cabin Fever I am assaulted by a strange sense of deja vu. Have I been to this place before? No, of course not. It just opened Nov. 29. Ah, but it reminds me of a number of places I've wandered into in New York City. "That's the idea," says McAndrew as he shakes my hand. "My partner David Dean and I wanted to bring a bit of New York to Park City." He explains their advertising and stationery backgrounds to" me, but I only partly listen. I'm too busy looking around at all the things in the shop. "And we got sort of burned out on New York," he remarks. After being vice president of an advertising agency that would be expected. expect-ed. He says they wanted to locate in Park City but couldn't find the right space, so they opened a store in Salt Lake first, a store which McAndrew says has done ridiculously well. We start with the cards, racks and racks of them. McAndrew explains that 179 different card companies ; are represented, on the walls in both store locations. "We vms-buy. the -hestpf, their lines rather than going with, the entire line. We don't tie into one company." And to keep the displayed cards from becoming old hat, lines are constantly rotated. Even if a particular card is a big seller, says McAndrew, it will be pulled after a while to give it a breather. There are cards everywhere. every-where. "There's not a major show in the country that we don't go to," he says. I believe. "Plus, we know a lot of the company owners and they will send us advance proofs of upcoming cards." For Christmas alone McAndrew Mc-Andrew estimates about 1,000 styles in both stores. The assortment is great. In one rack you'll find unusual graphics, in another an appealing photo, in a-nother a-nother an unabashed erotic offering, in another a wonderful won-derful pop-out card which anyone would love to receive. But don't think the store only has cards, McAndrew cautions. We look at silk-screened silk-screened sweatshirts, and shiny ties for the neck. He points to the "very special" invitations which I thought would have helped the attendance at-tendance at many a ho-hum party I've attended. We come to an assortment of calendars, and next to them an example of a "tin toy." McAndrew is obviously obvious-ly proud of these items. They are handmade in West Germany. I almost knock over the next gift idea. It is a neon sculpture of a rainbow, the only one I've ever seen for sale. McAndrew says the store deals with two companies compa-nies who create the sculptures, sculp-tures, one from New York, one from Los Angeles. They offer about 16 different pieces. I squeeze a mink teddy bear, an item ordered especially espe-cially for Park City, and I put on an "animal hat," this one a rabbit. My mind ' automatically pictures the lift lines on the mountain and the pairs of well-filled stretch pants. Finally, the perfect gift for a snow bunny! We look at the Christmas Julie Bertagnole minds the store at Cabin Fever. ornaments, the ceramic jewelry, and the Felix the Cat clocks which wag their tails back and forth on the second. Then on to the gift wrap, very unusual types of foils and papers which would make me take more care when wrapping presents in the future. There was more, but already my pea-size brain was suffering from overload, over-load, so I had to stop. But McAndrew insisted I take a look at the postcard collection. collec-tion. Soon I was face to face with a canine of dubious heritage dressed in a lovely blue-and-white lace creation, crea-tion, wearing a yellow scarf around her neck, and a straw hat on her head. Needless to say her paw was on a telephone, probably waiting for a call from some German shepherd. I had to have it for my office. I ask about the hours. He says they're 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or 11 to 9 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. As I'm leaving, he says he and Dean want to become a part of the community. "We want to be able to do something for this area." As I walk back to the office, dog postcard in hand, I think to myself, "You already al-ready have. You've brought some needed life to town." |