007 Tiny Display Tents

The Perfect Show is back with our biggest episode yet about the tiniest thing we’ve covered so far. 

Scot chases down the Tiny Display Tents that used to be in stores, and trying to find out what happened to them takes him on a tiny adventure in this episode. If you’ve ever marveled at one of those miniature camping set-ups you are not alone, this episode is for you, and anyone who wants to join the fun.

Special thanks to: 

Chelsea Hinkson, Ben Reburn, and Dr. Carla Marie Manly, who you can find at https://drcarlamanly.com/

 

Music from this episode by:

Shawn Korkie - https://www.fiverr.com/shawnkorkie

Brrrrravo - https://www.fiverr.com/brrrrravo

Bastreon - https://www.fiverr.com/bastereon

Ben Reburn - https://www.bandlab.com/benreburn

Freeadmusic.com - http://www.freeadmusic.com/

Aandy Valentine - https://www.fiverr.com/aandyvalentine

Kgrapofficial - https://www.fiverr.com/kgrapofficial

 

AI-Generated Transcript:

Speaker 2: 0:22

Hi and welcome to the Perfect Show. I'm your host, scott Moppen. I'm what you might call a perfection prospector, sifting through life looking for little things or experiences that could be considered perfect. Join me each episode as I examine one topic that I'm presenting as one of these little nuggets of perfection. There was a time back when I was in high school, or maybe even before, when I would go out to a store for something the one I'm thinking about right now is Target, but it could have been one of any number of department stores or sporting goods stores and before leaving with whatever I came to get, I would take a short detour over to the camping section and check out the tents they had for sale. Now, I wasn't ever needing to buy a tent, I didn't even really like camping all that much, a point that was repeatedly confirmed through Boy Scouts but the draw for me was that they showed you what the full-size tents would look like all put together, by having miniaturized, fully assembled versions of them on display, which welcomed you to kind of like look all around them and inspect that model's features and details tiny stitching like tiny flaps, little tiny rain flies, tiny mesh doors with tiny zippers All the features of the Big Tent there in perfect miniature. I would walk back to visit these tents on my shopping trips, like going to check in on a friend's pet that I secretly think loves me more than them. But this perfect little row of display tents, each one slightly different tents for four people or six people, tents with extra brooms or tiny tents with tiny vents for when it gets hot. There was something intangibly pleasant about walking through this shrunken retail campsite, zipping flaps open and peering down inside. So for this episode I will be exploring the perfection of these little, tiny display tents, as well as when they vanished and where they went. For a long time it was something that I kept to myself, a private joy of mine, that I wouldn't talk with anyone else about. Because why would I? It's not like it was embarrassing, it was just something that would hardly ever just bring up in natural conversation. But when it did, I found out that I was far from alone in my fascination. One trip, with a friend I think, I started making up some reason to venture back to the tiny tents and my friend was like dude, yeah, of course those things are awesome. In fact, pretty much every time I've broached the subject with other people, I get this rush of enthusiasm spilling out back to me almost uncontrollably, like people start gushing and telling me that they love these tiny tents too, almost like they were just waiting for someone else to break the ice and get the conversation rolling. Researching for this episode, I found that my personal experience echoes that of tons of other people. Online there are Reddit threads filled with people waxing poetic and remembering how much they always loved these tiny display tents. These messages usually include some version of, and all this time I thought I was the only one. I mean, it was seriously hard to find information on the tiny display tents themselves, sometimes due to all the different comments and results that were just people gushing in random ways over the internet about how much they love these things. The last time I remember seeing these in person was probably around 2009 or 2010, just after I moved back from Japan, and I saw them in various stores here in the Bay Area, like Target or REI, which is a big outdoor store that is here that I didn't have where I grew up. I was even ready to try and haggle to own one, and I remember asking a few different store employees about that possibility, but all of them told me it's really something that they couldn't sell, and the only time they can sell them or get rid of them is when they stopped selling that model of tent, and at that point the timing on that was pretty unpredictable, and employees themselves also usually know when that happens first and get first dibs on it, which totally makes sense. So then, about a year or so after that I think, I noticed that they were gone from those two store chains and I stopped seeing them or being able to find them anywhere else. I mean, it's hard to put a pinpoint on when you stop seeing something, because it's only after a while of not seeing it that you really noticed that it hasn't been around for a while, but I feel like it was probably around the 2011-2012 time that I noticed that I just hadn't been seeing these and I wasn't seeing them anywhere, but I don't think I really questioned it. To be honest, the tiny tent seemed like the product of a past era. Now I was imagining interactive web pages where you can view, zoom or spin digital recreations of the tents, lessening the need to have physical displays anymore. Over the 10 years since then, web development has only gotten more capable and digital displays are more widely used, so it would make total sense to me if everything had gone digital. Every tiny display tent had to be made individually, and then it's really only useful for one retailer in one location. Meaning scaling up that process also directly scales up all the work for the tent makers. A digital copy, however, once it's built and deployed online, it can just be accessed by any customer or retailer anywhere in the world at the same time. So hopping onto websites for the biggest tent manufacturers, that's what I expected to find, but they seem instead to be focused on a good amount of photos and videos showing and describing the tents. I didn't really find any digital spinnable models like I had imagined at all. I did reach out to one of them, coleman, through their contact page just to ask about the old physical tiny display tents and why they weren't around anymore. I wasn't holding my breath for a response. I mean, they're a big company. So I spent a bit of time also searching the internet for alternate options to see what other ways you could buy a tiny tent the kind like I grew up seeing. There were some on eBay, a few genuine tiny display tents, but they were selling for about as much, or even more, than full-size tents cost, even right now. I just looked these up to be sure that they're still there. It seems to be a route that's always going to be open, as long as you're willing to pay the price for a ticket. I love these in theory, but I just couldn't justify spending $1 to $200 on one of the tents just for this episode, so I continued my search. I actually ended up finding a few places that sell brand new small tents in this vein, one of which was TinyTentscom. Reading the About Us page on the TinyTentscom website, I discovered yet another pocket of store display tent fans, but they had actually gone out and created a product around it to allow others to get and own something we always were only ever able to visit in the stores. Now, from the look of it, these were a little different than the classic store display tents because they're designed for the purpose of being purchased and assembled by the consumer, whereas the other display tents were specifically designed to be perfect tiny replicas of that full-size tent for each one. Now, as far as I know, these TinyTents that I was looking at were designed to be built just based on their own thing, and they're not adapted down from a full-size tent which already existed. So I happened to discover them just as they were releasing a new model of tent and it was at a price point I could manage, so I went ahead and bought one. I just had to wait for them to ship it to me. But that actually brings us to. We have a sponsor, which means I get to do my first ever ad spot. I bought the tent using some birthday present money, so this episode is proudly brought to you by Birthdays. Birthdays Is your main problem with Christmas that it happens to everyone at the same time. Would you like a lot more attention with no pressure to share the spotlight? Then you need birthdays. Like a selfish Christmas, you get all to yourself. Birthdays Make other people all celebrate you instead of everybody celebrating the time together. Don't even limit it to the day itself. Be one of those people who announces that you require special attention for the entire week or even month. You were born Talking too loud. It's my birthday. If you can the pool birthday. Make a fool of yourself at a concert. Birthday in two and a half weeks baby. So if you are someone who has been born at any point in time, then this is a message just for you. Okay, reading the ad copy and here's the call to action For those of you who have been on the fence about having a birthday up until now give it a go Sometime this year. See if you can't make the time to have a birthday, I highly recommend it. Use the promo code PERFECT at checkout. Okay, also, so outside of this joke, yeah, this is where I was going to tell you to go to birthdaycom to enter the promo code. But I figured I should probably check through to see if that was already a real domain. And it is. But it's a parked domain for sale with a place to name your price. So I put in an offer pretty high by my standards $300, but clearly not enough to persuade whoever owns it. So I felt like my $300 was probably safe. But who knows right, I was safe. It turned out very safe. In fact, I didn't know just how safe I was until I got the counter offer back and their request and minimum wasn't the $300 I offered, but they started at $3 million, yeah, 3 million. So birthdaycom remains unbought for now. Anyway, now back to the show. So in the meantime, while waiting for my delivery, I continued to poke around looking for why I and others are so attracted to these tiny tents. When something is so widespread, I start to wonder if there's something more than just the tiny tents being cute. So I got in contact with Dr Carla Marie Manley, a clinical psychologist, podcast host and author, who agreed to talk with me for the show and helped me try to understand some of the things going on below the surface with this widespread fascination with miniature objects. I was going to say first, I was wondering if you could introduce yourself with your name and give your title please.

Speaker 3: 11:34

Absolutely. I'm Dr Carla Marie Manley. I'm a practicing clinical psychologist and wellness expert in Sonoma County, california. I'm also an author with three books, and my latest one is Date Smart and my first one is Joy from Fear. So that's a little bit about me.

Speaker 2: 11:52

Welcome to the podcast and thank you so much for talking with me about this episode. I'm actually I've been making an episode about tiny tents, the little, tiny display tents that I would see in stores or at different places. That kind of were the models of what the big tent would look like full-sized Well. So I was trying to figure out what it is about tiny stuff or miniature things that kind of speaks to us or draws us in, what sort of things would be behind that.

Speaker 3: 12:29

Absolutely. I think there are so many levels to it. And so, for example, when we see something little, whether it's the, let's go with the miniature tent, right, and we're seeing that tent. So on a practical level, we're able to look at that tent and say, hmm, here are the proportions, here's the size, here's the shape, I can envision having that and doing something with it, or not. So, on a practical level, there is that piece that lets us look at it and see does it work for our life? On another level, and actually many levels, tiny items, I believe, take us to a place of nostalgia, to childhood, when we played with tiny versions of tools, of cars, of dolls, of hammers, things that we couldn't manipulate, we weren't strong enough to, or we couldn't afford at these different times in our lives, or simply were too small to be able to handle right. And so, as we have as adults, we can look at these items and say this is really interesting. Interestingly enough, we're approaching the holidays and you see people with tiny objects everywhere, right, Miniatures on their trees, miniature this, miniature that, and that's another piece where we see that tiny objects give us the ability to hold on to and perpetuate memories from childhood forward. So if it's somebody having a little train installation under their tree or something like that, it's an opportunity to say you know, I can't afford, nor do I want a full sized train, you know, buzzing around my property. But once a year I can bring out this cute little train or this village or this little you know set of animals or even a nativity set and be able to almost be transported to another place and time just by a mini. So you can see, even as I'm talking about, it many people they're very soothed and I remember growing up my sisters I had lots of older sisters and they would unpack all of these mini Christmas items. Just so much work, but it gave them such a sense of being grounded and soothed.

Speaker 2: 14:48

So I was also trying to think about this from a few different angles and I wanted to run a couple of my thoughts by you and see what you see, what you thought about that. But I was thinking about in the world of animals, the way I feel like around large animals versus around small animals. I think small animals give me a sense of ease where I don't feel threatened at all and it's not like an object would threaten me. But I think I was wondering if feeling larger than a thing kind of makes me have a sense of ease where I don't feel in any way threatened. I don't know how to put that into a better phrase. The other direction I tried to think of was in the opposite, because it hasn't been a number of times, but sometimes if I'm around really massive objects, like large geological things or big city buildings, I get a sense of perspective where I feel kind of insignificant in sort of a healthy way, sort of a humbling way, and I wonder if that works in reverse, sort of kind of makes you feel significant, or if I'm just now inventing completely.

Speaker 3: 15:59

I think you're absolutely onto something when you are, for example, I can't remember where I was, but there was a Lego city around us. Of all of these, you know, the Golden Gate Bridge was done in Legos, the Eiffel Tower was done in Legos. So when you're, you know, underneath the real Eiffel Tower, you're going, wow, it's magnificent, it's so huge, I'm so small in comparison. And then you're the opposite end, where you're looking at the Golden Gate Bridge, right there, you know, and you could put your arm from one end to the other or the Eiffel Tower, and you're taller than it. So it makes it feel like, oh, maybe I'm not so insignificant after all, somebody at some point in time made a model of this scale, likely to create the ginormous structure, right, and so I do think it gives our minds a sense of, oh well, I'm not so, so tiny and insignificant after all, and I think that that's a very important piece, because that's, I believe, where we come from as children, when we are able to master, you know, building something with Legos or dressing a doll or you know, painting a model car, where we get a sense of mastery, that we matter, that we can control our environment, and that then it prepares us for going out into the big world and being respectfully and beautifully overwhelmed by the magnificence of the real structures.

Speaker 2: 17:26

Fantastic, yeah, yeah, that makes perfect sense. Absolutely, now, I did. I wanted to plug your newest book, which we talked about earlier, but it just came out this summer and it's called Date Smart Transform your Relationships and Love Fearlessly. So I was looking on your website at DrCarlaVanleycom and in the book you address a ton of common dating issues like setting healthy boundaries and dealing with mistrust, spotting red flags and even stuff like ghosting. I know a lot of people coming out of lockdown in an extended period in quarantine are just getting back into it and there's probably a huge uptick in dating and a ton of people could really use this advice right now.

Speaker 3: 18:11

I've had people comment who have read my book. They bought it for somebody in their 30s where they kind of scan through and they're like, oh my goodness, this is helping me in my relationship. So then they bought another copy for the person it was intended for. And the reason is and I agree with you for people who are venturing back out into dating, which is one of the reasons I wrote the book, because I have so many people who come to me for dating and relationship issues and the essence of date smart is really finding out who you are, what you have to offer, what do you want, respecting yourself. And then some people say, well, you should never date until you fully know yourself and fully love yourself. Well then you know, I would probably never have dated in my life because I will never fully know myself and I will never fully love myself. It's a journey, right, and so that, to me, is what you know relationships are about. I wrote Joy from Fear, which is a more intensive book. Joy from Fear really is focused on people who want, you know, global wellness in their lives from the inside out, particularly if they struggle with anxiety, depression, stress. So that's, you know, a different type of book, and then the other book is Aging Joyfully, which is about no matter what age you are, don't let yourself be limited by a number, never.

Speaker 2: 19:31

Right.

Speaker 3: 19:32

And also on my website there are free worksheets for people to download under the your Journey section that give you an opportunity to do some self-work without paying a penny.

Speaker 2: 19:45

That's fantastic.

Speaker 3: 19:47

Thank you. And just one more piece about the you know the minis, because I think there's a part, too, that we can't forget when we're looking at something miniature, we see it and it's intriguing, and it we become curious because we look at it and we say, oh, my goodness, look how tiny this is, and we get curious, and curiosity is one of the most important things we can ever do is to be curious, and I think that minis whatever the miniature item is, it's just they become fascinating and our brains love to be fascinated. And so I want to end on that that never forget the power of a miniature item, whether it's a little sandcastle or whatever it is, or a wonderful motorcycle that you know. You know you'll never own or you want to own or you don't really want to own. Never forget the importance of allowing yourself to be fascinated.

Speaker 2: 20:47

Very wise advice. Yes, yeah, I think that's very wise indeed. You can find Dr Carla Manley at her website, drcarlamanleycom, where you can find information about her newest book, date Smart, as well as her other books, and check out the podcast she hosts called Helping Families Be Happy, and I figured that was pretty much all I would be able to learn about these tiny tents from the outside, without some sort of connection or inside contact. I mean, how much is there really to track down for something like this that disappeared 10 years ago? But then, as I continued to wait patiently for my tiny tent to arrive, one morning I checked my inbox and there, to my genuine surprise, was a response from Coleman, the tent company I had contacted earlier to ask if they had more information on these store display tents from years ago. My friend and actor, chelsea Hinkson agreed to help me out and be the voice of Coleman's email for this episode.

Speaker 5: 21:53

Dear Scott, thank you for contacting Coleman, the outdoor company. Our goal is to provide you with exceptional products and the highest quality of customer service. The Miniature Coleman tents currently seen in stores are made only for retail accounts, under special order. The tents are sent directly to the store and cost about the same as full-size models. Because of their size, the miniatures must be made by hand and cannot be mass produced. No extras of the miniatures are made. The miniature tents are not sent back to Coleman but are the property of the stores. Some stores may sell the miniatures at the end of the year. You might check with the store manager and see if a purchase is possible. We appreciate your business and we're happy to help. Sincerely, coleman.

Speaker 2: 22:34

Okay. So apart from me being pretty excited to even receive this message, I also noted a few key details in it. It makes sense that the tents are only made via special order and that, because of the nature of that, they cost about the same to make as the big ones. That checks out both with what I imagined had to be the case logically, and also what I was finding on eBay. It also checked out that these tents stayed with the stores and then, when they were no longer needed, they were just disposed of by the store in whatever way, or rescued from the trash by an employee in the right place at the right time. That confirms what I had heard a long time ago when I had originally started asking about these. The thing from this email that stuck out the most to me, though, was that the person writing this, from Coleman, was using all present tents verbs to talk about these tents.

Speaker 5: 23:27

Currently seen in stores. The tents are sent directly to. No extras of the miniatures are made. See if a purchase is possible.

Speaker 2: 23:36

And well, that doesn't feel like the way I should be reading about something that disappeared a decade ago, so I followed up to ask more questions about that and to see if I could get any more information about the current state of these display models if there was such a thing and then a little while later I got another reply for them. Here's Chelsea again.

Speaker 5: 23:59

Dear Scott, thank you for your prompt response. We are glad to provide you the information for the tiny tents. As we checked, the tiny tents are still being manufactured. As some of the retail stores still have them on display. We do not have the information about where these tents are now. However, these tiny tents can be located at physical stores, since they are being used as a display. We appreciate your business and we are happy to help if you have any further questions. Sincerely, coleman.

Speaker 2: 24:24

Wait, did I read that right?

Speaker 5: 24:27

Some of the retail stores still have them on display. These tiny tents can be located at physical stores, since they are being used as a display.

Speaker 2: 24:36

I had just assumed I was right that when I stopped seeing them it was because the companies stopped using them. But now it seemed like maybe that was just a change in the stores that I had seen them at before and that they may still be out there after all. Could it be that simple? I had to dig deeper, so I had last remembered seeing them in 2009 and 2010. On my first research dive, I had seen people posting about these in a few archived message threads from that time, so I just figured that was the end of the story. But now I was back looking again with new eyes and this time I found a lot more. It's funny how many things you can find only once you know that you should be actually looking for them. It turns out my search led me to Reddit and to a subreddit called rslashmildlyinteresting, which, to be honest, feels almost like a passive, aggressive jab of a categorization. But I found one post from four years ago with a picture of several field and stream tents in a store display. The comments reveal tons of personal stories of both people wanting these tents and the retail employees talking about what happened to the ones at their stores when they were done. Some were given away to employees and some were even sold to customers, and yet other stores would sell them off in a silent auction and then give the money that they raised to charity. And with all the tents being the property of the stores, and at the point when they're no longer selling the model that the display is for, it really seems to become a mixed bag of what the plan is for each store. And at this point now I've seen over a dozen different versions of how they were dealt with. So it was not a standard process. It was very much place by place, it seems. But this whole discovery and it being only four years ago completely re-energized me. I started calling places, first close by and then farther. I mean, where would I have luck? I called a lot of REI locations and also tried my hand at a few smaller camping stores, but big, small, it didn't matter Pretty much.

Speaker 4: 26:58

Every phone call went like this Thank you for calling Bass Pro Shops. Our world's foremost outfitters are excited to help you get connected to the great outdoors. To better assist you, please listen to the following options.

Speaker 2: 27:17

Probably hitting zero, right yeah, what do I got?

Speaker 1: 27:35

Okay.

Speaker 2: 27:41

It's the middle of the day. It shouldn't be impossible. Uh-oh, just transferred it, but we'll get a recording now let's see. Hi, yeah, I'm looking to talk to someone, I guess in camping or about tents. All right, let me get you over there. Hold on one sec. Awesome, thank you, you're welcome. Three-pronged, is that what works before? Hello, camping. Hey, I have a question about tents, if that's okay. Uh, yep, yeah, so in yourthis is kind of strange, but in your tent department, do you guys have the just pictures of the tents, or do you have those like tiny display tents that show you what they'll look like when they're built? Do you know what I mean? No, we only have the pictures, gotcha. Okay, that's what I figured. And how late are you guys open tonight? Uh, I think seven. Yeah, until seven. Awesome, thank you so much. That's all I needed, no problem. All right, have a good one. Bye, you too. Then I stumbled upon another post in the same subreddit from only three years ago. Getting closer, it also had a thread of similarly themed comments, but this one had a new clue for me at the top. I'm not sure if you guys have seen it, but I'm sure you've seen it. I've seen it in the past few months, but this one had a new clue for me. At the top, it labeled the picture as being from a sporting goods chain called Dick's Sporting Goods. I had seen some talk about the tents at a chain called Sports Authority, but they had all closer locations in 2016. Dick's, however, was still around and is a place I noted to make sure to check in with Then. The third and final post in the subreddit about these tents was from only two years ago, the summer of 2019. I had seen some comments, and it was encouraging that it was from so recent, but there was really no new information to aid me in my search. The new nugget I did have to cling to, though, was to search out at Dick's Sporting Goods, and there were three in my area, so I did some poking around and discovered that this was the store where the displays pictured in the first two reddit posts were taken Same signage, fixtures, same merchandise. Now here's where I did something a bit out of my ordinary playbook. Maybe it was because I just made so many phone calls, or maybe the reddit posts and lack of having considered this store before was just filling me with some confidence, but whatever it was, I decided not to call ahead and instead go with the gut instinct to just go to the store and see if I could find them there. Of course, I would need a partner on this endeavor, so I recruited one of my favorites my wonderful daughter.

Speaker 6: 30:20

This is gonna look so weird.

Speaker 1: 30:22

What is?

Speaker 6: 30:23

One of my four phones and that we're tied together.

Speaker 2: 30:28

We just have to kind of walk and be not sneaky.

Speaker 6: 30:33

I know, but it looks so weird in this, it's gonna look weird in public, which is what I'm worried about.

Speaker 2: 30:39

It's not gonna be that bad.

Speaker 6: 30:40

Yes, it is.

Speaker 2: 30:41

Well, we'll give it a test out in the parking lot and see what you think. You're worried about the microphone, so right.

Speaker 6: 30:47

Yes.

Speaker 2: 30:48

Okay, well, they're tiny microphones. I know how to hide them.

Speaker 6: 30:51

No, I'm not worried about the microphones, I'm worried about the cord.

Speaker 2: 30:58

Yeah, we put it like underneath our clothes and then nobody sees it.

Speaker 6: 31:01

That's too weird.

Speaker 2: 31:09

So you know I'm making an episode about tiny tents, right, right. I got a reply from a tent-making company to an email I sent and they said that some stores still have them. So I started looking around. This seems like the type of store that might have them. People took a picture of the tiny tents in there as recently as two years ago.

Speaker 6: 31:34

If they were here two years ago they could totally have been sold out in those two years.

Speaker 2: 31:39

Totally true, and they could totally have changed the way they show off their tents. Now, if it's there, how are you gonna buy it? Whoever I'm talking to, if they say you know what, I would sell this to you for $30. I'd do that. I would probably do that. What if?

Speaker 6: 31:55

they said they would sell it to you for $1,000?.

Speaker 2: 31:59

Okay, this is good If they said $1,000,. I would definitely not do it, definitely not If they said $100,.

Speaker 6: 32:06

I definitely would not do it so.

Speaker 2: 32:07

I was gonna say where's my line. It's somewhere between $40.

Speaker 6: 32:11

$30.

Speaker 2: 32:13

It's somewhere between $30 and $1,000. And I think you're right if they said $100. No, no, no, I would think about it for a second, but I wouldn't actually think about it Now if they say $50.

Speaker 6: 32:25

$50 can be your limit.

Speaker 2: 32:27

I might think about that. I still think it's probably a bad use of $50.

Speaker 6: 32:33

I feel like $40 should be your limit. It's a bad use of $50.

Speaker 2: 32:36

I mean, it's a bad use. I don't need it. But $50 might get my gears turning and I might start thinking about would I be in this ballpark Now? $40, I think I'd be more likely to go. You know what? Let's just do this. $30, I'd go.

Speaker 6: 32:58

yes, I just want to make sure that you have enough money to buy me a treat.

Speaker 2: 33:02

I have enough money to buy you a treat. You sure I'll get you a treat. Good, we're good.

Speaker 6: 33:08

I think you should just try my plan while I'm pretending to be it, you give the highest, then you start going down.

Speaker 2: 33:15

Okay, sir, lady, yes, I need to buy this tent.

Speaker 6: 33:23

Sorry, $40.

Speaker 2: 33:24

$39.

Speaker 6: 33:28

Okay, fine, I'll do it for $40.

Speaker 2: 33:30

No, I said $39. You missed out on $40.

Speaker 6: 33:33

Fine $38. $37., $37.

Speaker 2: 33:39

Now I'm getting annoyed with you.

Speaker 6: 33:41

You are out of this this was your plan.

Speaker 2: 33:43

This was your big plan. You told me this was the way to do it.

Speaker 6: 33:45

No, I was going to have you say that you were going down and have you do it. I am going down, and well, you didn't tell me you were doing that.

Speaker 2: 33:54

You figured it out right away though.

Speaker 6: 33:55

No, that's because I know what you were trying to do, what, and you need to say how quickly you're doing it.

Speaker 2: 34:01

I told you how quickly I'm just going to get down one by one.

Speaker 6: 34:06

Fine, start again.

Speaker 2: 34:06

All right, I'm offering you $40.

Speaker 6: 34:11

Okay, I have to answer quickly, or else you're going down and like that's not, but you didn't know.

Speaker 2: 34:17

How would you know? You didn't know that I was going down at that time. All right, you have to wait until you figure out that I'm going down, and then you have to start itself Okay, ready, I'm going to offer you $40 for that tent. No, hmm, $39.

Speaker 6: 34:36

Wait, what? No, no, give me it, give me it $37.

Speaker 2: 34:38

Okay, fine, you can have it. $36, $35. You can have it $34. You can have it For how much? $33? No, $32. No, for $31. You can have it $30. You can have it $29. You can have it. You can have it. You just give it to me. You're just going to give it to me. No, you can have it for $29 $28.

Speaker 6: 34:59

I don't think I can have it. $29. It's going to work.

Speaker 2: 35:03

I know, I know you need a buckle. Yes, all right, so we're here.

Speaker 6: 35:09

No, we're here, yeah, we're here.

Speaker 2: 35:12

The worst time of my life.

Speaker 6: 35:13

No, we're about to do the best time, all right.

Speaker 2: 35:20

So then we took off our gear, got out of the car, hooked it all back up and headed inside to look for these tents. All right, we're looking for tents, tent and camping stuff. Oh, I see it over here.

Speaker 6: 35:34

Yeah, I have to say Tent and Camping.

Speaker 2: 35:36

Over here. I see Tent and Camping.

Speaker 6: 35:40

I'm not as tall as you, so I can't see Tent and Camping.

Speaker 2: 35:43

I know it doesn't say Tent and Camping, it says Coleman and Thule, bertoulli, field and Stream.

Speaker 6: 35:51

There's one thing that I do like about doing this.

Speaker 2: 35:53

What's that?

Speaker 6: 35:54

I like how warm the inside of the store is.

Speaker 2: 35:57

Yeah, you haven't been into a lot of stores because you were waiting until you were vaccinated. Now this is the spot, so the tents are here. What is this? It's a small tent.

Speaker 6: 36:16

It's a small tent?

Speaker 2: 36:17

Well, it's not. I mean, it's not a tiny tent, but it's meant for probably one to two people. Three people, three people, huh, well, no tiny tent's here. I was thinking we might run into them, but shocker, it's OK. So even here, where I thought there might be one, looks like they don't do them anymore either here.

Speaker 6: 36:46

Let me see here what's it. What are these?

Speaker 2: 36:49

Those are sleeping bags.

Speaker 6: 36:51

OK, here follow me. You kind of have to I do?

Speaker 2: 36:56

We're on a package deal right now. Where are you taking me?

Speaker 6: 37:01

This way I saw it. I think I saw a tent thing.

Speaker 2: 37:05

Did you? Let's just double check to make sure. Is that the answer? It's no tiny ones, just the regular size tents. What do you think? Ok, I take full responsibility for that one not working my gut let me down this time, and I absolutely could have called first and just saved myself the trip. But I did get one piece of new information from an employee who wasn't able to go on the record. She said she's been there for 30 years and when I told her I was making a podcast about these tents, she told me how much she dug them to, but that they had all been gone from the store for months. I stopped to make sure I had just heard right, I'm sorry, did you say months, I asked. I was under the impression that these have been gone for years. Oh no, she replied. She told me that the store she was in had only gotten rid of theirs earlier this year, this year, as in 2021. Yes, she said. She saw them as late as the first few months of this year. Oh man, I was excited to find out that they were still around years after. I assumed that they would have vanished, but now finding out that these were so close and yet still just as gone as those from 10 years ago. Well, I'm not really sure how to describe that feeling. Does it feel worse to only barely miss something rather than to whiff it by a mile? I know it doesn't seem to feel better, and I wish I had a better landing to stick than that. You know, I was really expecting that at the end of this tunnel I'd have managed to figure out some way to track down the genuine article store display tents somewhere and find them once more out in the wild. But then again, maybe it's not the end forever, just for now. But then, after all that, there was one last piece of this puzzle that was still in motion A package delivery from North Carolina addressed to one recently disheartened podcast host, and inside a pretty excellent consolation prize. My tiny tents dot com order had arrived and we're recording.

Speaker 6: 39:47

Meow, meow, meow.

Speaker 2: 39:51

Okay. So what I thought we'd do is get out this tent and put it together and then see if we could get the cats interested in playing it. This is a tiny tent.

Speaker 6: 40:03

Dump it out. Dump it out, dump it out.

Speaker 2: 40:07

What do we got here?

Speaker 6: 40:08

Tent poles.

Speaker 2: 40:09

We have a flat kind of unrolled version. Tent poles Two packs. Okay, I slid mine down the edge, so there are these tiny tent poles.

Speaker 6: 40:24

You're a tiny tent pole, but they don't go together really.

Speaker 2: 40:28

Oh wait, they do. Each one has like a.

Speaker 6: 40:31

Magnetic thing? I think a few. Well, it's got like a elastic oh yeah, it has like a elastic thing that pulls them together.

Speaker 2: 40:38

It's like a regular tent pole. It's just tiny Boop.

Speaker 6: 40:41

Well, I don't know much about setting up tents.

Speaker 2: 40:44

How many? How many tent poles do we have total? Are these different lengths? We have long ones and short ones here. Okay, did this come with instructions? It probably did, I hope it did.

Speaker 6: 40:56

Oh, you know what I'll put it up here.

Speaker 2: 41:00

It probably did Check inside that bag.

Speaker 6: 41:07

I found this. I don't think these are instructions. Here they are.

Speaker 2: 41:11

Here they are. Here they are. So here are the instructions. We have the front door. We were thinking this is the front door, okay, and then we slide in the long poles.

Speaker 1: 41:19

Are there multiple doors?

Speaker 2: 41:21

I don't know yet Ready. We slide the poles in A symbol. Another long pole, Put it in the other.

Speaker 6: 41:31

There's only one door it looks like you slide the poles in through these little holes.

Speaker 2: 41:38

See, we have to push it through the loop and then follow the same line of loops.

Speaker 6: 41:47

It's hard to get open the loop. You want me to hold it open. Something open.

Speaker 2: 41:50

Yeah, I'm going to slide it in through on this side of the Got one.

Speaker 6: 41:57

I'm working on number two, got two.

Speaker 2: 42:03

How are you getting these loops?

Speaker 6: 42:04

open. I'm sticking my finger.

Speaker 1: 42:06

I'm sticking my nail in, then my finger.

Speaker 6: 42:10

I can help with that part, because I'm good at that. Yes, good at this.

Speaker 2: 42:14

We're going to have a traffic jam here in the middle. Now it says to put the pins in, even though I don't feel like it's very intuitive.

Speaker 1: 42:45

What do you mean?

Speaker 2: 42:47

The pins go into the bottom to hold it in.

Speaker 1: 42:50

What do you mean by intuitive?

Speaker 2: 42:52

I thought maybe it would be like a pin-sized hole for it, but it looks like a long hole.

Speaker 6: 42:57

I know it's way too big.

Speaker 2: 43:00

But maybe if we start with one pin on one side. So here's what I'm going to try and do. I'm going to put it one pin under.

Speaker 5: 43:06

These are tiny tent stakes. You think that these are holding it in?

Speaker 2: 43:10

Yes, okay, here we go. So more tent stakes Good, good, good, and then when you have enough, I can pin it. Put one of those two pins into the bottom.

Speaker 6: 43:27

Oh yeah, that fits.

Speaker 2: 43:28

You got it Good Okay.

Speaker 6: 43:31

I'm getting better at this.

Speaker 2: 43:33

Yeah, it's getting quicker. It's just good, because it's no less getting more impatient.

Speaker 6: 43:38

Is that it in Good? This is more work than I thought it would be Well.

Speaker 2: 43:46

I mean we're building a tent. This is still bigger than I remember the tiny tents being.

Speaker 5: 43:55

This looks like it could be functional for a small animal.

Speaker 2: 43:58

Right.

Speaker 5: 43:59

Like the other ones I feel like were tiny, like a little bit more mini like doll-like, Okay.

Speaker 6: 44:08

This one in.

Speaker 1: 44:10

Wait, don't go too far.

Speaker 2: 44:11

Don't pull on it. Let me push, because if you pull on it, we can.

Speaker 5: 44:14

Wait, don't go too far, because you want to be able to stick it into the next one.

Speaker 6: 44:18

So let me open the next one. This is a cool tent. It's very cute.

Speaker 5: 44:26

Good, okay, hers is in.

Speaker 1: 44:28

Okay.

Speaker 5: 44:30

Oh, snowball. Snowball is the right size for you. I don't know about the doorway.

Speaker 1: 44:36

She'll be good.

Speaker 4: 44:37

She'll be good, you also have a big booty, A big long booty.

Speaker 2: 44:43

You in.

Speaker 6: 44:44

Okay, in.

Speaker 2: 44:48

And I'm in too. Do you want to introduce the cat to the microphone, or do you want to say you want to describe the cat?

Speaker 6: 44:58

Who is this cat? This is Snowball.

Speaker 4: 45:00

Describe her.

Speaker 6: 45:02

She is a lilac Siamese and she's very playful and curious about what we're building.

Speaker 2: 45:08

Yes, okay, cool, awesome Can.

Speaker 6: 45:13

I open up the door.

Speaker 2: 45:15

I think we need to open up the door.

Speaker 6: 45:16

I don't know, she'll be fine. There's a screen door.

Speaker 2: 45:21

Open the screen door, then what's it like inside?

Speaker 6: 45:25

Inside there's a zipper.

Speaker 2: 45:27

Now it looks like they have little loops.

Speaker 6: 45:29

Yeah, they do.

Speaker 2: 45:30

They have little loops to tie up the window flaps I want to do that I can do that Snowball got up.

Speaker 6: 45:39

Oh look, she's looking in the window.

Speaker 2: 45:40

She's definitely interested.

Speaker 6: 45:42

She's looking inside.

Speaker 2: 45:44

Let me see what's inside here.

Speaker 5: 45:47

Wait but when she goes in, do it at an angle so I can see her. Of course, Snowball go in.

Speaker 6: 45:53

Uh oh, she's trying to figure out how. Oh, are you dumb, dumb Snowball, go in. But this isn't the door, this is the window. You're the window.

Speaker 2: 46:07

All right, so here we are. Welcome in Snowball. Would you like to give it a test?

Speaker 1: 46:14

Oh.

Speaker 6: 46:17

She might be able to fit. She fits.

Speaker 2: 46:23

Wait, let me get a shot, let me get a picture. So she immediately took to the place Snowball, snowball.

Speaker 4: 46:34

Oh, oh you cute, oh you cute Hi cutie, she really likes that, hi, cutie.

Speaker 2: 46:46

She's going to dig that place. Actually that's a nice size for her. I was worried it would be too small and actually if it was a tiny tent, the size that I remember, it would have been too small for her. But this is great because she fits perfectly. She loves that. She's settling herself in yeah of course she looks good inside there too.

Speaker 5: 47:06

You look good.

Speaker 2: 47:08

And it turned out I had a little bit of birthday money left over after getting the tent, so I used it on something to reward us for completing the build successfully. So here's what I thought we would do. I wanted to make tiny s'mores with our tiny tent, and so here's what I got. I got I got golden graham cereal.

Speaker 6: 47:28

Can I taste test one?

Speaker 2: 47:30

Yeah, we'll have to taste test one, but this is our graham cracker. Golden graham, hi cutie, oh you're cute. I have miniature marshmallows and I have chocolate, and then we're going to roast the miniature marshmallows on these tiny lights, tea lights.

Speaker 5: 47:45

Snowball All right.

Speaker 2: 47:49

So here's what I'm going to do let's open up the golden grams and test them. Okay, yeah, make sure these are good.

Speaker 6: 47:55

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 47:55

You've never had golden grams before. No, how old are you?

Speaker 6: 47:58

Eight.

Speaker 2: 47:59

Okay, well, this is a big thing Now. These were a thing I ate when I was a kid. I think I was allowed to have these because they didn't have marshmallows in them and they didn't have like candy in them, but they were still sweet. So they were like just above the, just on the other side of the line, like kicks in cornflakes.

Speaker 1: 48:19

I don't think this is on the same level as kicks in cornflakes.

Speaker 2: 48:25

No, this is. Those are healthier and this was my more unhealthy.

Speaker 1: 48:29

They do taste like graham crackers.

Speaker 2: 48:31

Yeah, they're a little graham crackers, little tiny graham crackers that we're going to use to make teeny tiny s'mores.

Speaker 6: 48:36

We need to taste test the marshmallows too. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 48:38

I think so, I think you're right. So taste one.

Speaker 1: 48:46

Let me taste this marshmallow. Can I have a graham cracker also?

Speaker 2: 48:51

No.

Speaker 5: 48:51

What, what You're gonna eat?

Speaker 2: 48:53

them together. No, you have to wait.

Speaker 6: 48:56

Can I please have a few marshmallows? Can I please have a few golden grams?

Speaker 2: 48:59

You too, are really difficult to podcast with.

Speaker 6: 49:05

One marshmallow Before you light it.

Speaker 1: 49:09

please explain the whole thing, thank you.

Speaker 6: 49:14

So what are we using this to pick for?

Speaker 2: 49:16

These are our marshmallow roasters. You have to take a marshmallow, you have to put it on the toothpick.

Speaker 6: 49:26

Like this.

Speaker 2: 49:28

That's right. So I don't know how quickly or slowly this will be.

Speaker 1: 49:32

Do we have to have one light each?

Speaker 2: 49:34

Yeah, I think just one light Like a campfire.

Speaker 6: 49:37

Somebody else can have this, and then I'm gonna get the chocolate ready.

Speaker 2: 49:43

So here's what we have to do After we.

Speaker 5: 49:46

That chocolate's not proportionate.

Speaker 2: 49:47

It's not. I looked for a small chocolate.

Speaker 1: 49:50

I found Chocolate chips bro.

Speaker 2: 49:52

No, they're not the right shape, though, so here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna break this into teeny tiny.

Speaker 6: 49:57

Squares. Those look really good. Thank you, get the golden grams up too. Yeah, bro.

Speaker 2: 50:04

And you guys know how to make s'mores, right? I was thinking these shouldn't be called s'mores. We need, like, a different name because they're small, like Teeny tiny s'mores. S'morps.

Speaker 1: 50:15

No.

Speaker 2: 50:16

S'morps.

Speaker 4: 50:20

That's lit.

Speaker 5: 50:22

Candle lit, blow it out.

Speaker 6: 50:27

Marshmallow are being cooked.

Speaker 2: 50:29

Don't give it space. I don't know how much it takes to cook a mini marshmallow. I've never actually tried to toast it.

Speaker 6: 50:37

Good. Look at how good my marshmallows are.

Speaker 2: 50:39

I think you've got a lot of control over them. Oh, I started to get browning.

Speaker 6: 50:52

That's why I'm not going that close.

Speaker 2: 50:54

No, it's good Means that I'm like almost done.

Speaker 6: 50:59

Mine aren't.

Speaker 2: 51:01

Okay, I think mine's ready.

Speaker 6: 51:02

I think mine is okay.

Speaker 2: 51:04

I'm putting the chocolate on, I'm putting the graham cracker, I think mine's ready. My other graham cracker.

Speaker 5: 51:14

And then make a little sandwich and then pull out the stick, like this Ta-da.

Speaker 2: 51:18

Hold on, here we go. Look at this.

Speaker 6: 51:20

Good, let me eat mine.

Speaker 2: 51:26

A little bite-sized s'mores.

Speaker 6: 51:27

Cute.

Speaker 2: 51:28

That's cute.

Speaker 6: 51:30

Okay one more.

Speaker 2: 51:32

You can see pictures from this whole process on the webpage for this episode, or I'll have them up on the Instagram as well. This seems like good content for that, but check out our tiny tent and our cat and the tiny s'mores we were making and all the fun we had.

Speaker 4: 51:50

Ooh Ooh, ooh, ooh Ooh.

Speaker 2: 51:53

Getting it on fire is not a bad move, by the way.

Speaker 6: 51:58

I'm not going to try.

Speaker 2: 51:59

It's not a bad move.

Speaker 6: 52:02

Now, let me just catch a marshmallow.

Speaker 2: 52:04

The marshmallows and graham crackers. That's the right ratio.

Speaker 6: 52:08

I'm gonna eat one extra.

Speaker 2: 52:10

Oh my gosh, why do you keep reaching above the fire?

Speaker 5: 52:12

Because the cereal is on the floor.

Speaker 2: 52:15

The fire is right here oh jeez. Weird when they catch on fire. You can hear them on the microphone.

Speaker 5: 52:23

Yeah, right Did you hear that.

Speaker 1: 52:24

Yeah, yeah, we have a crackle. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 52:26

Even though we're not shoving them right up on the microphone. There's this like it's the crackle of a fire. Look, you're on fire, bro, Blow it out.

Speaker 5: 52:35

Ooh, that's okay.

Speaker 2: 52:36

Here hold on.

Speaker 1: 52:39

So while we're in that tent, it's way cute. I know I'm a big fan. Did you think she was?

Speaker 4: 52:44

gonna want to be in it.

Speaker 2: 52:46

I thought it was gonna be too small for her.

Speaker 4: 52:48

Me too. She's a 12 pound cat.

Speaker 5: 52:50

She's a big cat, she's the biggest cat we know.

Speaker 6: 52:54

Mmm, that's good. You ate it without the s'more.

Speaker 4: 52:56

That's good.

Speaker 5: 52:57

Just eating the marshmallow Like toast it and then eat it like a regular marshmallow.

Speaker 1: 53:02

Yeah, oh sure.

Speaker 6: 53:04

Perfect. Oh yeah, that's really good.

Speaker 2: 53:10

I forgot how good going grandfathers are. They're fun.

Speaker 6: 53:12

I forgot how good s'mores are.

Speaker 2: 53:14

Really I remember them.

Speaker 5: 53:18

This is nice, that's what people say about campfires also.

Speaker 1: 53:23

Cheers.

Speaker 6: 53:26

Perfect.

Speaker 2: 53:27

Alright. Well, let's stop the recording and I'll put away the equipment. Thank you all for doing this with me, okay.

Speaker 5: 53:33

Thank you for having us Appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 53:42

Got a tiny tent that we built together and we ate some s'mores that we cooked real careful on a tiny adventure that we had inside and here's a tiny song about that tiny time Do-do-do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do.

Speaker 2: 54:14

And with that, those tiny display tents and stores become the next entry into the Perfectorium, the Index of Perfect Things. Don't forget, you can also find a direct link to the Perfectorium by going to perfectshowsite slash perfectorium. You can find all the credits and links for the music in the show notes or on this episode's webpage. Special thank yous once again to Chelsea Hinkson, ben Rayburn for singing the song you just heard, and Dr Carla Manley, who you can find on DrCarlaManleycom and her newest book, date Smart, is available now wherever books are sold. And I want to also extend apologies to the dozens of camping stores and sporting goods stores that I called asking questions about tiny tents. Subscribe if you'd like to get every episode and if you're enjoying these and want to drop the Perfect Show, a perfect rating or review, especially on Apple podcasts, please do. It's the easiest way to support the show. This episode was recorded and mixed at Morayna Studios in Oakland, california. Once again, the Perfect Show site is at perfectshowsite. That's S-I-T-E, email any comments, music or other things to perfectshowshowatgmailcom. I'm particularly interested to hear from people who may also have a fascination with these tiny tents, or if you are out in the wild and you see them somewhere in a store. I'd love to hear from you, so connect on Twitter, instagram and YouTube to the name Perfect Show Show.

Speaker 4: 55:46

Thank you for calling Big Five Alameda. This is Alex speaking. How can I help you?

Speaker 2: 55:49

Hi, I wanted to speak with someone in tents or camping, I guess.

Speaker 4: 55:54

Sure one second.

Speaker 2: 55:55

Okay, thank you, and remember, just because the episode ends doesn't mean my abnormal obsession does too. I'm still holding out hope that maybe someday I'll pass through the right door or call the right store and these extinct creations suddenly prove to be not so extinct after all. Hello, sir. Hello, I had a question about tents.

Speaker 5: 56:17

I guess yeah, go for it.

Speaker 2: 56:20

Where you guys sell the tents is it? Do you actually have the tiny display tents that show what they'll look like full built, or is it just with photographs and pictures?

Speaker 4: 56:31

Just photographs and pictures. Our store is too small to put the display down.

Speaker 2: 56:35

Gotcha, gotcha, Okay, right on. Thank you for letting me know. All right, bye, Anyway, until next time. I'm Scott Moppin and thanks for listening to the Perfect Show.

Speaker 1: 56:53

I'm gonna eat 50 eggs.

Speaker 6: 56:56

When can we eat tiny s'mores again?