Just got back from an Alaskan cruise through the Inside Passage; the weather was beautiful, there were glaciers, etc, but one of the highlights was the tourist trap of Skagway, a town of about 800 that had enough shops to host three cruise ships (about 2,500 people each) while we were there.

Hidden away from the main street was the week’s most interesting kitschy shop of all: The Sarah Palin Store. Though the former governor is primarily associated with Wasilla, Skagway was apparently her childhood Alaskan home.

And, Skagway is home – as the woman who works there put it – the world’s only Sarah Palin store:

It’s part of a shopping plaza on Broadway, between 5th and 6th avenues:

The amount of merchandise was astounding. Off of the top of my head, the Palin-branded merchandise included: t-shirts, tote-bags, Christmas ornaments, bumper stickers, books, paper dolls, commemorative coins, koozies, chocolate bars, mints, “Tea Party” tea, ulus, lipstick, calendars, and hockey trophies:

The woman working the counter said the store has been only open for two years, isn’t at all affiliated with Palin (though the owner knows her parents or something like that) and that Palin hasn’t yet visited. What a shame, I thought New York was a little awesome for having a Big Lebowski store, but this must be the only store based solely on a vice-presidential candidate.

More (non-Palin) photos of my Alaska cruise can be seen on my Flickr account.