This weekend my nieces, ages 6 and almost 8, came to spend the night. We had some time to kill before Gub's dad could join us for a trip to the zoo, so I scanned the West Seattle Blog for ideas of what to do in our neighborhood, which led me to Max and Quinn's Atomic Boys Shop-O-Rama (4311 S.W. Admiral Way), a retro candy and toy shop in the Admiral District. Knowing candy was in their ken, we headed over to check it out. The younger girl was immediately drawn to the rack of goofy retro toys -- potato guns, ray guns, fake flies and the like -- while the elder carefully perused the candy selection and told me which ones she had experienced before.

The shop is a tiny little place, half old-fashioned stationers shop, half newfangled-yet-retro space supplier. The candy selection is nicely appointed with descriptions of the goods, including original dates of introduction (no, this isn't vintage candy). After deciding in favor of some Bazooka gum (the $4 fake flies being a bit out of our league) and a handful of Pixy Stix, the girls selected a Nut Goodie for their uncle and a plastic monster for Gub. I was tempted to pick up some of the cute cards they had, but the kids were antsy. Nonetheless, for under three bucks, we had an entertaining 15 minutes. I hope the candy selection continues to expand, and I will keep the place in mind when looking for party favors in the future.

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