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Silver Serpent Exotic Gifts, which recently opened at 55 N Court St. sells a wide array of items ranging from reptiles and fish to tobacco pipes and herb grinders.

Snakes in a shop: Silver Serpent Exotic Gifts peddles trinkets, tobacco

“This is my favorite accessory,” James Wanke said, draping two ball pythons around his neck to free his hands.

Wanke, a fifth year Ohio University senior studying biological science, is the night manager and “animal guy” at Silver Serpent Exotic Gifts at 55 N. Court St., which opened Aug. 19. He takes care of the store's various resident animals: three pythons, two chameleons, “about a hundred” tropical fish and a loud 20-year-old gray cat named Twinkle. Perseus, the store’s mascot, is a blue-eyed, silver ball python.

The location had been vacant for over a year. The former tenant, Jerry Ski, was evicted last summer after multiple cases of flooding and disputes with the landlord.

The store doesn’t sell any animals, but it sells plenty of other items. Acrylic and glass tobacco pipes, hidden safes and Pokemon-themed collectibles line the glass cases. Tobacco products and a fridge full of bottled soft drinks sit behind the cash counter. Framed, dead, exotic butterflies cover a wall. Wanke said the insects are sustainably raised from institutes that study them.

Wanke said his favorite items are the hidden stash cans — small scent-proof safes made out of items like a Dr. Pepper can, a container of chocolate whipped cream or other household items.

“I think the best one is the expired mayonnaise can,” he said. “I don’t really think anyone’s going to open that, especially if you leave it out in a warm room.”

The store opens at 11 a.m. each morning and doesn’t close until 3 or 4 a.m. the following morning. Wanke said the owners and managers wanted the store to be available to “all walks of life and all types of people,” including Athens' nightlife.

“We get a lot of people who come in after they’ve been drinking,” Wanke said. “They may not make a large purchase, but they come in the next day when they’ve got a headache and then they make their purchase.”

The store began turning a profit right away, Wanke said. For the first week, sales averaged at $3,000 a day, then dropped slightly as the store began to run out of products. Wanke said the store gives out stickers, which many visitors put up around town to attract attention to the store. But he also said much of the interest comes from the small-town culture in Athens.

He said the staff tries to market the store as more than just a pipe and tobacco shop, so they call it an exotic gift shop instead of a smoke shop. While some of the store’s merchandise can be used to smoke weed, Wanke said nothing in the store is intended for that use.

“Everything we sell is intended for a singular use,” he said. “What other people do with them — because not everyone’s going to do the same thing with everything — that’s up to them.”

The store pays at least $10 an hour for each staff member, an equal rate for both managers and employees.

“We don’t really pull rank here,” Wanke said. “It’s just if you can’t work as a team, you can’t work as a team. We haven’t had that issue yet.”

All of the store's employees were hired after volunteering to set up the shop over the summer. Friends and passersby stopped in to hold the snakes and began helping paint the store, and later took jobs there.

“We didn’t have to interview a single person,” Wanke said. “Every single person who works here came over the summer and put in their hours for free for a chance at a job.”

Ian Pack, a store clerk and Athens resident, began volunteering when he moved to Athens over the summer.

”I met this guy and said I needed a job and he said, ‘Well, help us build the shop, you’ll get really good pay,’ " Pack said. “I was like, ‘Sure, why not.’ It just worked out.”

Pack said he enjoys coming to work every day, and that most days it doesn’t feel like work. 

Corey Hilbig, a senior studying music production, brought his friend in to visit the store. 

“We got bored of drinking at our house, so we came here,” he said.

Hilbig worked as a DJ at the store’s opening. He said he recommends the store to people every day.

“Where do I start,” he said. “Let’s see here … There’s a very good selection, it’s a very good location and the people who work here are amazing.”

Eventually, the store staff members plan to start selling local art and convenience food, Wanke said. The store recently invested $25,000 in new merchandise.

“Our store is going to be reborn once again for the better,” he said. 

@baileygallion

bg272614@ohio.edu

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