GLENDALE : Municipal Memorabilia Now for Sale

Now you can have a little piece of Glendale for your very own.

City Shoppe, operated by City Hall, opens today on the second floor of the Glendale Galleria to sell a variety of city merchandise including old street signs, retired parking meters, used police motorcycles and new T-shirts.

“It’ll be a mix of both the memorabilia or surplus items, and retail merchandise,” said Tom Marston, an assistant in the city’s Finance Department who helped set up the new shop.

“From the experience of other cities that have tried this, it seems the consumers want those kinds of things.”

San Diego and West Covina are two cities that have successfully opened shops.

The Glendale City Council allocated $25,000 toward start-up costs of the store, which will be run by a private firm under contract with the city.

Officials said they believe that the store will break even in its first year and eventually generate as much as $1 million in profits to go into the city’s general fund.

At a private reception at the store Thursday night, city officials gawked at the unusual selection of fire hydrants, firefighters’ coats and hats, old fire station call boxes and other items.

Bob McFall, assistant city manager, said much of the inventory consists of items Glendale usually discards or sells at auctions. Some municipal memorabilia items to be sold were acquired from other cities. Some of the artwork, T-shirts, book bags and other items will be sold on consignment for local groups such as the Glendale Historical Society and Friends of the Glendale Library.

“We have devised a number of different ways to bring product in here at a low cost,” McFall said.