Penguin Race

On that historic day in mid-March 1985 when my all-penguin cart opened its doors for the first time, well there were no doors as it was a push cart, but you get the idea.  Among the 40 or so penguin goodies that made up my inventory that inaugural morning was, yes, you guessed it – the iconic playful penguin race.  Now, 26 years years later, that squeaking toy, with the amazing penguin escalating action is still a mainstay of my now 700 plus penguin inventory, just as it has been for the past two and a half decades.  In all that time many things have come and gone, but not a thing has changed for the penguin race.  The box, the game, the track, the flags,the squeaking noise, the door at the base for the D battery, even the three penguin racer colors of red, blue and black are all the same.  Amazingly, even the price of the penguin race is virtually unchanged going from $12.95 in 1985 to $14.95 today.  That’s an increase of .08% a year, making this toy a real inflation buster.  I can’t tell you how many penguin races we’ve sold over the years, but I’d wager it’s well into the thousands.  So, here’s to you my friend the playful penguin race.  Few things have been more constant than you in my life, and in the 26 years of penguin place that says a lot. These days my kids love playing with this wonderfully simple and delightful penguin toy just as people who are now in their 30′s loved to play with it all those years ago.

Penguin Race Finally Moves

Penguin Place opened on March 15th 1985 (as Next Stop South Pole), and on that first day we sold 3 Playful Penguin Races.  The price 26 years ago was $12.95.  In the early 90′s the price jumped to $14.95 and as a “Whip Inflation Now” poster child (penguin) the price has remained $14.95 ever since.  To let you know how incredible that is, in 1985 the price of gasoline was $1.20 a gallon.  But, alas we could only keep the lid on the price for so long as we’ve finally raised the price of a penguin race to $16.95.  Still a bargain for all that amazing penguin escalating action and sliding.

Penguins Race For Charity

Mystic, Ct – Veterinarian Dr. Jen Flower, trainers Erin Gibbons and Tracy Camp and assistant trainer Melissa Carle coax their penguins to the finish line of one of the penguin races held in the Marine Theater at Mystic Aquarium Saturday.  The penguin races were held after the Run Walk for the Penguins 5K run and two-mile walk to raise funds for the penguins held at the aquarium.

Penguin Race Spare Parts Now Available!

After repeated requests over the last quarter century Penguin Place is at long last offering spare parts for the popular Playful Penguin Race. Now if you lose your penguin racers, crack a piece of track or burn out your moving stairs motor, Penguin Place has a replacement part for you. No longer does one broken part or lost penguin mean your only option to get your penguins waddling and sliding is  purchasing a brand new penguin race. We’ve got all spare parts for sale from the main motor moving stairs house to the decorative plastic flags and cardboard header.  Also, FYI all the penguin race spare parts that we’re offering are new and mint.

Welcome To Penguin Place (Northampton)

As many of you may know we recently moved this past June from our longtime igloo home at 220 Water St. in Brooklyn  to our new home and igloo hq in beautiful Northampton Mass. Although since 1999 Penguin-Place.com has been primarily an on-line / mail order entity, over the years we’ve had many visitors and shoppers make what I like to refer to as making “a personal penguin pilgrimage” to our former Brooklyn igloo.  But, since we’ve moved to Northampton five months ago we’ve sadly had no penguin pilgrims.  All that changed last weekend when Steve from Hartford made an appointment and stopped by to look for a gift for his girlfriend. Unlike our Brooklyn igloo (which was also a live / work situation) where there was a separate entrance from our home next  for Penguin Place, our Northampton igloo is housed on the second floor of our duplex loft and to visit and / or shop here you pretty much  have to go through a good chunk of our home to reach to Penguin Place.  Also, unlike our former Brooklyn digs which had a freight elevator, we have no such amenity and our penguins are  a bit of a hike up on the 4th floor.  So, as a courtesy to our curious customers and potential pilgrims, and also to show my mom (who cannot handle the stairs) I made a little 90 second Welcome To Penguin Place video .   I figured as the place was all tidied up for impending Thanksgiving company,  the kids at school and the igloo being in relatively good shape better now than never.   The quick tour takes you from our service door downstairs, up 2 flights of stairs, into our first floor, through our living room, past the Penguin Race, up the stairs to the second floor, down the hallway and into our penguin hq igloo where we say hello to number one penguin elf Michelle, do a 360 pan around and that’s a wrap.  The video has virtually no narration as I knew this would be a one take shot with no editing and I didn’t want to say anything I’d regret. So, if you ever wondered what penguin place looked like, here’s a video of our new home and igloo.

This catalog hat & mittens picture of Sophie was taken in front of our downstairs bathroom door