Gargoyle business in Boise has taken wing

BOISE — With his shaved head and broad shoulders, Dennis Shipley cuts an imposing figure.

"If you painted me green, I'd look like Shrek," he says.

And it's true, he would.

Shipley is what you would call a Renaissance man of commerce. Shipley's most notable business may be the one hinted at by the van parked outside. Gargoyles, held in place by straps, perch atop it.

Great Gargoyles, Shipley's retail and wholesale gargoyle business, fills one whole wall of the shop.

Here are his five fast reasons everyone needs a gargoyle:

1. "It boils down to everyone needing a belief. Originally, gargoyles were protectors. I had a client come in who was battling cancer. She bought a gargoyle for protection."

2. "People love to collect gargoyles. I know two people in Boise who each have hundreds of gargoyles."

3. "Gargoyles are decorative and cool. I have one outside in my waterfall. It stays out all winter, freezes and thaws with everything else."

4. "Gargoyles are a part of our past. They let the artistic side of humans come out. Gargoyles started as a round drain pipe, and grew into a huge following."

5. "Every new sale I make takes 30 minutes. Twenty of that is me educating people about gargoyles. The other 10 is them deciding which one to buy."

His shop is on Orchard Street between a sushi bar and a leather store, which makes for interesting items in the community Dumpster, he said.

His shop is really several in one. He builds, upgrades and repairs computers. He oversees several cases of body jewelry gems for any body part you might need to decorate. He does not do piercings himself but lives by the motto: "You poke 'em, we plug 'em."

He keeps what he calls "China Row," the most random, yet useful assortment of items: tiny metal capsules that will hold ID or a few aspirin tablets and hang from your dog's collar; a packet of 50 needles for one dollar and a set of Pakistani dental picks. They didn't make the cut for medical use but would be invaluable to the home hobbyist.

Shipley likes to quiz his customers. He holds up a small, "multipurpose" hatchet.

"You know who buys these? Real estate agents. They use them to pound their For Sale signs into the ground, and for protection."

The 12-inch metal tweezers he sells are beloved by convenience store maintenance workers who use them to pull plastic straws out of drains.

But the gargoyle business is slowly spilling over into China Row: "Garth," a winged, taloned creature Shipley considers his "signature piece," threatens to crowd in on a box of three-plug outlets.