Gyro bids for notice with G-Mart, set amid "snooty" art.

Ugly, understocked - even smelly - the new G-mart in ritzy Old City looks like one of those vaguely sinister convenience stores/a front for some kind of mischief.

In other words, it's perfect.

Ah, but is it art?

And what is art for that matter? For that matter, what is commerce?

Does it matter?

Not much, according to Steven Grasse, the head of Gyro Worldwide, a Philadelphia advertising agency. He and two sidekicks created the store - the first in this city to be opened by an advertising agency - to accomplish many purposes, all having to do with the crossroads of art, marketing and commerce.

G-Mart, on Third Street half a block north of Market Street, sells products created by the agency, as well as those created by the agency's clients. It will test-market products, it will test the store idea as a marketing device for Gyro, and it will function as a sort of cheeky performing arts space/gallery.

Part of G-Mart's aim is to make fun of everyone and anyone. Grasse said he borrowed the red, white and blue store design from Shirt Corner, a big, blaring men's clothing store on the northeast corner of Third and Market Streets.

"We made it look like. Shirt Corner Plus because that's the ugliest store I've ever seen," Grasse said.

Shirt Corner Plus's owner, Marvin Ginsberg, said he had no idea what G-Mart was about, but if it borrowed the store design from him, "I feel sorry for them. Ugly is only in the eyes of people that call it ugly. We've been here 40 years. There's got to be some kind of beau ty in that."

Situated in the heart of Old City's gallery district, G-Mart also pokes fun at "all the snooty galleries around here."

But when is a store Just a store and not a statement? That's not a question that particularly troubles Grasse, because G-Mart is a statement.

"You walk into the store and you question what's for sale," Grasse said.

"That's the whole idea of putting it into a convenience store," side-kick Larry McGearty said, finishing Grasse's thought. "We're using a symbol everyone knows. But convenience stores aren't convenient. You have to drive to them, and everything costs more.

"Old ladies come in here asking for milk," McGearty said. "We say, 'Yeah, we sell it, but we're sold out now. Please come back tomorrow.'"

Not that there will be any milk tomorrow but, "it's performance art," McGearty said.

What they will sell, even to old ladies, is a line of tattoo-themed shirts and other garments under the Sailor Jerry label, named after a Hawaiian tattoo artist. The clothing, one of Gyro's products, was developed by McGearty, a Philadelphia artist who owned an apparel business and then sold it to Gyro.

"We wanted to be our own clients," Grasse said.

G-Mart also will sell products made by Gyro's advertising clients, among them Puma shoes and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. cigarettes. "We can be a test market for them," Grasse said. "They love it."

The store also showcases and will sell what might be roughly called extreme art, such as the work of the other sidekick, artist Mark Brodzik. He has stocked the shelves with household products that look like the real thing, but aren't - or maybe they are, depending on whether you think the real thing is real.

"Mark's anti-advertising, and that's the beautiful part - it being owned by an advertising agency," said McGearty.

On sale are bottles of Golden Fluffy soap liquid in the classic plastic hourglass bottle that promises to "Make Water Wetter." Golden Fluffy's Golden Stream Beer (cream soda, actually) competes for space with a red-and-white soup can - only the flavor is Baby Hearts. Deadly Poison, evil and blue, comes in a spray bottle, and the label of a can that looks a lot like Juicy Juice promises "Sugar Water. Kids Love It. No, Coloring. No Vitamins. No Fruit. Fortified with Fructose."

"It's irony on irony," Grasse said. "It's the convergence of art and commerce."

"The whole thing about doing the store is about breathing life into Philadelphia, making it a safe-haven for artists," McGearty said.

Grasse has always had a particular gift for coming up with newsworthy shtick to gain publicity. He was featured in George magazine last month for a plan he's concocting to create a wild shindig for young Republicans during next summer's GOP convention here.

He wants to attract business types and entrepreneurs who like the Republican economic philosophy but are moved to nausea by family values and the Christian coalition.

His agency, with 24 employees, $43 million in capitalized billings, and a roster of big-name clients including Puma, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., and Wm. Grant & Sons liquor, specializes in Gen-X advertising.

So the fact that he would come up with an idea such as the store is no surprise.

What is a surprise is that the store doesn't mention Gyro. "Everyone knows it," Grasse said. Besides, he said, Gyro is more than a mere advertising agency creating mere advertising for mere clients. "It's a brand," Grasse insists.

A television in the corner runs Gyro-created advertisements, but without a credit.

The blockbuster ad is one promoting the Store. It stars four women, models from Delilah's Den, a Philadelphia "gentlemen's" club. ("They're clients," Grasse explains.) The women strip down to their bikinis and hold up a convenience store.

G-Mart, which opened Dec. 3 with a wild party for 400, actually takes up a small part of the building. Behind the store is the wholesale office for the clothes created by McGearty, and in the basement is a shipping and distribution facility for the garments.

The inspiration for the store came as Grasse was trying to figure out how his agency could make a splash in the London advertising world when it opens an office in that city next year.

"The last thing I want to do is open an agency like everyone else," Grasse said. "So we'll open a Gyro store, and when it starts to get a cult following, then we'll become an advertising agency.

"This is a test run. In London, it's much more about hype than it is here," Grasse said. "Agency executives are treated like rock stars there."

"We're going to call the store the Ugly American and sell American products, meat snacks, stuff that's bad for you. Everything they hate about us, but that they secretly love."

Continued McGearty: "We're not embarrassed about being American. We like big cars. We like to drink. We like to gamble. We like to fight, unfortunately.

"We're the Ugly Americans, and we've come to take over the market."

The Philadelphia Inquirer (link to site)

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/

Categories: Gmart, QCM