Restaraunt 'Flair' (1 Viewer)

[Shawn C]

As I was sitting in Ruby Tuesday's for lunch today, I was looking around at the walls and thinking to myself "Where do they get all of this stupid crap?"

Where do places like this and Applebees and T.G.I. Friday's get all of the stupid junk on their walls?

Here is a list of a few things I noticed today:

An old Victrola mounted upside down
Some old sled
Various records
Various Elvis related memorabilia
Old bowling pins
Old skis
Old license plates
Old shoes
Various tin plates for things like cars, beer, etc
Old Birdcage

Is there some sort of supplier for this crap? Is someone making money selling this stuff to these restaraunts? Is there some company that specializes in making this stuff?

 

[Michael*K]

Some places actively seek donations for that stuff. A local chain here--Portillo's--keeps a big warehouse filled with all this old memorabilia and when they open a new restaurant, they pick and choose what will be hung from the ceilings and walls. The Fuddrucker's hamburger chain even posts signs asking patrons to donate their nostalgic and antique items for decorating their restaurants. The kicker: The chain provides no monetary compensation, retains permanent ownership of the items and doesn't even credit the names of the people that "donate" them.

 

[Jefferson]

One person's "crap" is another person's thriving antique business. I like a lot of it. They get tons of it from estate sales.

 

[Bill Slack]

They have a person (or more than one) that go around to auctions and buy up cheap crap to put on the walls. That's what I was told when I asked at a TGIF in Milwaukee...