5 Question Friday With Poison Apple's Jooley Heaps

Last year Jooley Heaps was nice enough to participate in 5 Question Friday to talk about her store, Box Top Vintage, a vintage clothing store in downtown Tacoma. Box Top is no more but in its place is Poison Apple. I stopped by her shop a couple weeks ago and invited her again to let us know what she’s up to these days and how her new business is different from previous endeavors.  If you haven’t been to Poison Apple, you’re missing out, but I’ll let Jooley tell you about it.

1. What is Poison Apple?

Poison Apple is a different take on what I was successful with through Box Top Vintage. Vintage clothing was starting to become lackluster for me and I enjoyed selling novelties, retail, art and super fun stuff more. I teamed up with Jason McKibbin (who I've known for 20 years) and made it more pop culture with my items as well as comic books, action figures, cool dvds, music, etc.

2. How is it different from your old shop, Box Top Vintage?

What's different is the store makes more sense than Box Top. Box Top was all over the place. Things are more organized, the paint colors work well together, the logo and cards are the same, thus the branding is more recogniziable. My friend JD Elquist and his team of boy wonders had a lot to do with helping me realize that. The shop is also more open and not as clustered together, making it more easy to shop.

3. Besides your own shop, what is your favorite local business?

Tacoma has a lot of businesses that I think are wonderful. Dorky's, Embellish, Blitz florist, Dagmar Peterson "Henna Zilla", Learning Sprout, What? Shoppe, Republic of 253, Top of Tacoma, Puget Sound Pizza, The Mix, Lulu, A little touch of magic, Cresent Moon Gifts, Supernova, Mad Hat Tea, Hell's Kitchen, Pacific Grill, DOA, Comic Book Ink, there are literally SO many that I adore and that exist from coffee to vintage clothing to everything in between, Tacoma has a truly great mix of shops and people that run them. I know I'm leaving a bunch out, but that will give your readers a little work to do smurfin' around to find them :)

4. You're having an event this weekend. Could you tell us a bit about that?

We are having a free all ages open to the public event here on Saturday April 28th from 3-6pm. Phoenix Jones and Purple Reign, who are real life superheros, are coming down from Seattle to talk to folks and kids about domestic violence and bullying. These issues very important to Jason and I and we think that it will be a great event to be a part of. I'm stoked that they have the time to do it. Way cool.

5. What are your plans for the future of Poison Apple?

The door is wide open for world domination for the future of Poison Apple. We will continue to have super awesome gifts and products, we have a busy vending schedule of shows, events, and cons we will be at, and hope to have in store events. We are from Tacoma and love it and will always be apart of anything local we can sink our teeth into.

If you’re in downtown Tacoma, you owe it to yourself to check out Poison Apple. It’s located on 907 Pacific Ave.  You can also check out their Facebook page. I’d like to thank Jooley for taking the time to participate in 5 Question Friday and hope everyone can make it to Saturday’s event.

As always, if your or anyone you know wants to be part of 5 Question Friday, email me at jackcameronis@gmail.com