SEATTLE — If you’ve walked past the former 7-Eleven at Third Avenue and Pine Street in downtown Seattle, you might do a double-take.
The vacant storefront is now home to the Inconvenience Store, an interactive art exhibit packed with handmade versions of everyday products where everything looks familiar, but nothing is quite what it seems.
Think shoulder bags made from chip bags like Cheetos and Lays, beeswax egg candles, and even intentionally tangled USB cords. Built on the idea of inconvenience, the store is filled with “abstracted interpretations” of store goods across 14 different departments.
“Your favorite corner store, reimagined entirely by artists,” Inconvenience Store wrote on social media. “Art is inherently inconvenient. In a society that rewards efficiency and mass production, artists do things the hard way.”
Shoppers can browse quirky, artist-made takes on convenience store items and even buy them. According to the creators, the interactive exhibit hopes to attract people who don’t go to traditional, typical galleries and even have them take home some of the art pieces.
More than 70 local artists helped create the exhibit. The store officially opens Sept. 19.