[Groop]Groo's Shoes, Groo Street, Groo's First Name!

Mark Brown mark@6thebrownhouse.freeserve.co.uk
Mon, 18 Feb 2002 21:47:41 -0000


Groosshoos...

I have this strange image in my mind of Ed O'Neill from "Married with
Children" - just seems to fit somehow... like a dainty glass slipper on a
barbarians foot...(for some reason it stopped airing over here in Blighty -
I only just found out that Marcy got remarried for Pete's sake !!!)

Piccies to the East of the Pond if you please Mr S !!

M.





-----Original Message-----
From: groop-admin@groo.com [mailto:groop-admin@groo.com]On Behalf Of
Larry Steller
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2002 6:22 AM
To: groop@groo.com
Subject: [Groop]Groo's Shoes, Groo Street, Groo's First Name!


Well THAT was interesting!

My plan for the day was to head up to Middletown, NY
and take a picture of the GROO STREET sign, then head
down to Monroe, NY to  check out GROO'S SHOES.

Now, I had heard GROO'S SHOES has two locations, one
in Middletown and one in Monroe, but since my buddy
Jim said he knows how to get to the one in Monroe, I
figured it would be easier to meet up with him and
check it out after I photographed GROO STREET.

So armed with a rented minivan, my digital camera and
a microcassette to record my thoughts, I headed to
Middletown...

Ahhh, but FIRST, I sort of never quite got around to
picking up a blank tape for my microcassette, so I
stopped at an electronics store in Middletown, made my
purchase and was about to get in the minivan when I
saw...IT!!!

A SIGN!!!

A sign which simply read: GROO'S SHOES!!!

Like a lost explorer (well, I wasn't actually
lost...YET) I had stumbled across the Middletown
location!

(And you'll all get to see my pix  when I get my web
site up and running; meanwhile I can email pix to
anyone who responds to this...)

I snapped a couple of pix and headed inside.

Step 1: Browse. Hmmm, nice store, clean, well laid
out, uncluttered. A woman named Michelle asked to help
me, and I picked out a pair of shoes and settled in
(hey, I needed shoes anyway).

Step 2: The Spiel. Michelle was curious why I was
taking pictures outside the store- she was afraid I
was somehow up to no good - so I explained about Groo
(VERY BRIEFLY!!! I know enough NOT to bore non-fans),
about my Groo Trek to take pix of GROO STREET & GROO'S
SHOES, and my accidental discovery of this store
location. She said she'd heard once before that there
was a comic book called Groo...

Step 3: The Pitch. So then I asked about GROO'S SHOES
shopping bags. Would it be possible to buy a
semi-large amount, so I can give them to GROO fans
around the world?

She said she'd give me a handful (18) for now, and
she'd let me know after she spoke with her boss. I
gave her a free copy of THE LIFE OF GROO, and gave her
my name and number.  She said she'd have her boss call
me this week.

THE PUNCH LINE: Oh, and her boss's name. Well, maybe
you guessed  PART of it, but I bet none of you guessed
ENTIRELY right.

Of course his name is Groo.

Yes, Groo...

GARY GROO!!!!

Is that PERFECT or what!!!???

I chuckled surprisingly mildly, and explained (once
again BRIEFLY) to Michelle exactly WHY I found her
boss's name so funny... Seems there's this guy named
GARY GROSSMANN who is, for lack of a better word, our
GROO GURU (I think I'm the first to call him this, let
me know if anyone else ever considered this). I also
explained that it was especially funny that the store
was called GROO'S SHOES because Groo doesn't WEAR
shoes (snicker, snicker).

Anyway, I bought my shoes and headed out for GROO
STREET. I found it easily, without getting lost (yet);
it's a tiny little street with three houses on the
left and two on the right, a totally unremarkable
little street that is just slightly (only slightly) on
the run-down side.

Hmmm, I wonder what Gary (Grossmann) would pay for one
of those houses? Sorry, no FOR SALE signs.

I took my pix and then called my buddy (of course a
Groo Fan himself) and said I'd be at his house in a
half hour.

An hour later I called to tell him I was hopelessly
lost, and when I tried to describe my surroundings he
just couldn't fathom where in the world I could be.
Finally his wife recognized where I must be, and we
arranged for him to meet me and continue the final leg
of the Groo Trek.

While I was waiting, I caved in to impatience and
called Gary (Grossmann  that is - now we can't just
call him GARY!!!) to tell him that of course I got
lost during my Groo Trek, and that Groo's first name
REALLY IS Gary.

While I was chatting with Desessbo my friend Jim drove
up and IMMEDIATELY joked that of COURSE I got lost
going to GROO'S SHOES!!! I hung up with Gary and we
made it to the second location, GROO'S FAMILY SHOE
CENTER.

I got there about an hour AFTER it closed. Oops.

By the look of the place, I kind of think this one in
Monroe may be the original location, although since
Gary Groo is located in the Middletown Store
(according to Michelle) , it would seem to make sense
that THAT is the original. We'll see after I speak
with Mr. Groo.

Anyway, that ends my long-winded Groo Report.
Hopefully I'll get up to Middletown again next weekend
to meet Mr. Groo in person, otherwise I'll have to
settle for interviewing him by phone.

I'll keep you posted!!!

One more thing, email me privately if you want a
plastic GROO'S SHOES shopping bag. If the total
postage doesn't get TOO expensive, I'll send some out
to the first who respond and to the rest if I get a
second batch. I'll probably have to limit The Groop to
1 bag  each, depending on how many bags I end up with
versus how many requests for bags I get.

Hey Mark, if you stayed with me this long, how many of
these bags should I put aside for you, Sergio, Stan,
Tom, and Dark Horse peoples? If I manage to be allowed
to purchase a large amount of these bags, I'll give
all the leftovers to Sergio; I figure he'll get a kick
out of being able to have GROO'S SHOES bags for fans
who buy things from him at conventions.

By the way, the beige plastic shopping bag has a
legend which says:

Groo's Shoes "We fit your family"

That's all for now, I'll let you all know what Gary
Groo has to say!!!


=====
-Larry Steller
New York, New York

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