Avondale Estates business showcases an 'odd-itorium' of objects

AVONDALE ESTATES, Ga. - Ask artist Mason McNay to describe The Odd’s End in Avondale Estates, and you’ll get a long pause in response.

“We’ve tried…and we can’t,” he finally says with a laugh.

With spirit boards hanging on the wall, puppets dangling from the ceiling, and cases filled with vintage medical tools, The Odd’s End is basically a neighborhood curiosity shop.  And while it’s definitely a one-of-a-kind place, it’s part of a tradition that stretches far back in time, and all the way across the pond.

“You look back in old English towns, there was usually, in small tourist towns, a small curiosity shop, where all those strange antiques that other antique stories wouldn’t carry,” explains founder Merrick Mixson.  “Just...strange things.”

Mixson is a lifelong collector of those strange things.  From animal skulls to vintage ventriloquist dolls, he loves this stuff.

His wife?  Not so much.

“After I got married the second time I just started collecting again and turned into a bit of a hermit, so I did nothing but collecting and filled my house with it…and my wife was getting a little sick of it,” laughs Mixson.

So, he created The Odd’s End, and moved it into an early 1900s Avondale Estates home.  Eventually, he brought in partners Paul Reardon and Mason McNay to help transform it into something of a rogue’s gallery.    

“In every city there’s gonna be a black hole where all the extraneous misunderstood things congregate, I guess, in order to have some company,” says McNay.  Mixson agrees: “Sometimes it does feel like a clubhouse.” 

Today, The Odd’s End showcases the work of local artists, including McNay’s intricate woodblock brings, and sells from an ever-evolving collection of strange stock.  Mixson says visitors drop in from around the world to marvel at his bizarre bazaar:  “Word of mouth is probably our biggest thing.”

For more information on The Odd’s End, click over to the store’s Facebook page here.  And click on the video player in this article for a sneak peek inside!