More than 700 cookie cutters are on Aisle 2 at Larry’s Arts and Crafts.
They include everything from SpongeBob and butterflies to Darth Vader, from crosses to marijuana leaves, but that’s just a sampling of the store’s more than 8,000 inventory items.
Throughout its 51 years in business at the same Richey Street location in Pasadena, Larry’s Arts and Crafts has been a go-to place for supplies, earning its reputation for being fully stocked for any occasion.
In in the fall, homecoming season is big business at Larry’s, where mum accessories are filled to the top of the shelves with ribbons, bases, beads, garlands, hot glue, tiny teddy bears and other trinkets.
“We’ve been really busy,” said current owner and manager, Mark Ropel.
Store once the go-to place for Halloween costumes
For most of its five decades, Larry’s was something of an emporium of Halloween costumes and accessories, providing aisles of masks, capes, uniforms, vampire teeth, bloodied eyeballs, hairpieces and makeup tools to create any monster, zombie, president or cartoon character.
“We would go to Larry’s for any school project arts and craft supplies and birthday party supplies. We would also go for costumes every year,” said Ginny Wagner, wife of Pasadena Mayor Jeff Wagner. “So many great memories. I remember being a cat, a witch and French maid. They were truly a one-stop party shop and memory-maker.”
Address: 1510 S Richey St, Pasadena, TX.
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2ZjD33B
Phone: 713-477-8864
For Joyce Henkel Crivellari, many favorite childhood memories include Larry’s.
“One of my favorite memories is of my mom taking us to Larry’s when we were really little,” she said. “I remember my brother wearing a plastic 101 Dalmatians dog and I was not a 101 Dalmatians dog, but I wanted to be so badly. I don’t even remember what I dressed up like that year, but when I look at those pictures, I remember how badly I wanted to be a dalmatian from Larry’s Arts and Crafts.”
But like many mom-and-pop businesses with long-established ties to its community, Larry’s has had to re-define itself over the years. The Halloween-themed chain stores that started popping up every August through October during the last decade took a massive bite out …….