This May, you can have your cake and you can wear it, too. A first-of-its-kind art exhibit and retail store, ODDMART is a globally-touring pop-up where an entire retro grocery store is filled with items made from branded socks.
The wild, colorful, brand-friendly pop-up launches that World Tour with its debut in Tampa, taking over Ybor City for all of Memorial Day Weekend, May 21-25, hosted at 1517 E 9th Avenue in the LeBlanc Venue event space. The immersive experience is free to attend and open to the public from 11 am – 7 pm each day of the exhibition.
Is it a snack or a sock? The ODDMART is the brainchild of Odd Sox, the Tampa-based licensed accessories brand behind collaborations with Cheez-It, Pringles, Pop-Tarts, Pepsi, Liquid Death and more than 100 other global brands. Guests walk in expecting chips, cereal, candy, and canned drinks. Instead, they’ll find aisles stocked with Sox packaged inside the actual branded packaging of the products that inspired them. A Cheez-It box, a can of Liquid Death, a bag of Cheetos. Each one houses a licensed Odd Sox product built around that brand’s iconic design. The store is designed to be walked through, shopped, and photographed, with larger than-life installations, interactive displays, and a live DJ.
Cracker fans will be happy to hear that Cheez-It is a main feature on the international tour, meaning you’ll find tons of cheesy goods throughout the ODDMART experience. Additional brands getting the sock treatment include Pringles, Pop-Tarts, Dude Wipes and dozens more.
“We’ve built a global brand around turning the world’s most recognized names into products people actually wear and Tampa is where it started,” says Ahmad Akar, founder and CEO, Odd Sox. “ODDMART is the physical version of that idea. We wanted to open it at home before taking it everywhere.”
“Everywhere” includes five major cities, three time zones, and two different continents. After Tampa, the immersive storefront will travel to Miami, New York, Las Vegas, and Tokyo. While the brands involved are known the world over, it will be our city of Tampa that’s behind it all, and it launches in the heart of Ybor City.
The first-of-its-kind retail experience will be open in Tampa from May 21-25 at 1517 E 9th Avenue, open each day from 11 am – 7 pm. ODDMART is free to attend and open to all ages, with all items in the retro storefront available for purchase. It’s an experience you don’t want to miss. Your sock drawer will thank you later.
And if you do get hungry, don’t eat the socks. Real snacks will be available at the market experience. Learn more about ODDMART here.