Most people like a business with a pun in the title. Something clever to make a customer smile and think good thoughts of the shop or company.
In Lowestoft we used to have an obvious shop called ‘Ann Teek’ and a hairdressers called ‘Hair’s Linda” which owed more to our local accent than anything.
Others that have been publicised recently include:
Junk & Disorderly (self explanatory)
Den of Antiquity (antiques shop)
Dr Hackett, Surgeon ( a doctor)
Halal – Is It Meat You’re Looking For? (butchers’ shop)
Some funny images circulate the net.
Other recent ones I’ve found include:
- A Fish Called Rhondda – a fish and chip shop in South Wales
- California: Brain Wash (laundromat/movie theatre) – San Francisco CA
- The Washing Well (laundromat) – Berkeley CA
- Blade Runner (hair salon) – San Luis Obispo
- Old Volks Home (VW-centric auto parts) – Redding CA
- Minnesota – Once Upon a Crime (mystery bookstore) – Minneapolis MN
- New Mexico – The Pie-O-Neer Cafe (cafe) – Pie Town, NM
- Oregon – Northwest Hairlines (hair salon) – Salem OR
- The Salem International Hairport (hair salon) – Salem OR
- Knot Another Hat (knitting store) – Hood River OR
- Kentucky – With Ewe in Mind (yarn store) – Paducah KY
- Missouri – Sherlock’s Home (mystery bookstore) – Liberty MO
- Nevada – If Books Could Kill (mystery bookstore) – Las Vegas NV
- Rhode Island – Pour Judgment (craft beer bar) – Newport RI
- And the Beadz Go On… (yarn and craft shop) – Wickford RI
- Texas – Adventures in Crime and Space (mystery bookstore) – Austin TX
- Knot Just Yarn – Hitchcock TX
- Vermont – Ace of Blades (lawn maintenance service) – Essex Juntion VT
- Saving Time (vintage watch repair) – Underhill VT
- On the Rise (bakery) – Richmond VT
- Ewe and Me (wool farm) – Westford VT
- The Crate Escape (doggie daycare) – South Burlington VT
- Sew’in’ Love (tailoring) – East Johnsbury VT
- The Hempest (hemp clothing) – Burlington VT
- What Ales You (pub) – Burlington VT
- Sewly Yours (bridal tailoring) – Burlington VT
- The Old Spokes Home (bicycle repair) – Winooski VT
- Men at Wok (Chinese restaurant) – Taft Corners VT
- The Family Hairloom (hair salon) – Barre VT
- The Mane Concern (hair salon) – Barre VT
- The Permanent Solution (hair salon) – Hinesburg VT
- All-Ways Hair (hair salon) – Milton VT
- Hair Force One (hair salon) – Rutland VT
- Knits and Bolts (yarn and fabric) – New Haven VT
- Petra Cliffs (climbing gym) – Burlington VT
- Full of Beans (coffeehouse) – Waterbury VT (RIP)
- Capitol Grounds (coffeehouse in state capitol) – Montpelier VT
- Scotland – The Reading Lasses Bookshop (feminist bookshop) – Wigtown, Scotland
- Canada – Sheep Thrills Farm (sheepdog training) – Grandora SK
- New Zealand – Sheer Magic (lingerie) – Taupo
- Deli ca Sea (seafood) – Taupo
- Bean There, Drank That (coffee) – Putuharu
There is a site that supplies name suggestions for your business, for a fee, of course.
For a shop that repairs washing machines, hoovers and the like, they suggested:
Money Launderers
Grim Repairs
Clean Break
Stranger than Fixin’
The Appliance Den
Cycle Recycle
KingSpin
Lazarus Machines
Just Wash Me
Immortal Machines
Undead Washers
Soaklahoma
For a male holiday fitness business, they came up with:
Trop and Give Me 20
Villagym
The Vacation Train
Traincation
Full Body Vacation
All Intense and Purposes
Body Hard, Play Hard
And for a women’s accessories boutique they offered:
Pussy Galore
Purrfect Pieces
Purrfection
Handbag Lady
Feline Your Best
That Lovin’ Feline
Pawsitively Everything
Brooching the Subject
Lipstick on a Cat
Santa Claws
Here are 20 more at Huffington Post.
And 21 more from the same publication.
And finally,
A clever site, Know Your Meme has lots of images and names meshed together in memes and it’s worth a look, even if just for the smile factor.
There is one we made earlier on memes, to catch up on. Internet Memes Are Sometimes Fun with a Satirical, Serious Purpose, 25 September 2012