Shop Owner Fred Garbutt Saves the International Banana Museum

Business owner Fred Garbutt has just purchased 17,000 banana collectibles. What is he thinking?

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on June 15 2010

Plenty of people like bananas. But do you like them so much that you’d buy 17,000 banana-themed stuffed animals, phones, toys, golf clubs, and all sorts of other paraphernalia dedicated to the familiar yellow fruit?

That’s what Fred Garbutt, a liquor store owner from La Quinta, California did. Several months ago, Garbutt purchased the entire boatload of banana-themed gear for less than $7,500 over eBay from 71-year-old Ken “The Bananister” Bannister, who’d been collecting it for much of his lifetime and displaying it in the International Banana Museum. After losing his display space, Bannister was ready to close up shop—but he hoped there would be someone willing to keep his Guinness Record in place.

Garbutt is new to the banana game, but he’s taking it seriously, collecting folklore and facts on the fruit, and using banana-related puns every chance he gets.

“Before this I really had no hobbies except restoring old cars,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “Now I am really into bananas. They just consume me.”

If you feel like going bananas yourself, you’ll have to wait until January, when Garbutt reopens the museum. But if you want to check out some other strange collections in the meantime, you’re sure to enjoy St. Paul, Minnesota’s Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, the Giant Shoe Museum in Seattle, or perhaps the Museum of Odd Socks? (Yes, really.)

Filed under: Business, Weird,

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