It’s simple to mistakenly call Robert Klenberg by the wrong name. Richard makes much more sense. But don’t do it or he’ll think you’re making a sales call.
The shop owner has been working at Richard’s Variety Store in Buckhead for most of his life. At age 5, his parents —mother Nancy Rose and late father Max — would pay him 10 cents for every store counter top he organized.
Today, he’s the king of this eclectic five-and-dime holdover where you can purchase a hammer, a set of drinking glasses and a Trump mask all in one trip.
Klenberg proves as unique as the store’s eclectic inventory. Fit and trim at 62, he refuses to own a smartphone or have an email account. A self-deprecating humor belies his shopkeeper savvy. The latter likely comes from his lineage.
Back in 1952, his dad and uncle Richard Garber purchased a trio of failing dime stores. They changed the name to Richard’s because it had a better ring than Max’s. Garber died in a car accident a decade later, leaving Max Klenberg to run the business with help from his wife and father-in-law.
“l loved going to work with my parents,” Klenberg said, “and that’s what I always did when I wasn’t in school.”
The advent of shopping malls and the changing retail landscape saw all but one Richard’s locations close by the early 1970s, the holdout being the Peacthree Battle location.
After stepping away from the family business at age 16, Klenberg returned 10 years later. His parents gave him 49 percent of the store in 1992, and two years later he purchased the remaining 51 percent. Once fully in charge, he began instilling his own retail philosophies, including curating and displaying a wide range of products with a keen eye for kitschy novelties.
In 2008, when he and wife at the time, Ming Yang, opened a second location in the Midtown Promenade shopping center, Klenberg designed the store right down to the restored mechanical horse ride for kids, identical to the one at Peachtree Battle.
After Klenberg and Yang divorced, they agreed to each operate a respective store independently. Yang helms the Midtown locale and Klenberg runs the Peachtree Battle location. They work together buying stock in bulk to get the lowest rates possible.
“We’re always trying to find the most innovative, new and interesting things,” Yang said, “and at the same time we combine it all with the best traditional items.”
Since moving to Atlanta in 1999, Ronald Senterfitt says he buys all of his greeting cards at Richard’s. One recent Sunday afternoon, he brought Alexandra Darfzaun, a first-time customer, along for the ride.
“It’s my favorite store,” Senterfitt said, standing among the cocktail napkins with naughty messages, elaborate jigsaw puzzles and children’s books. “It has a little bit of everything.”
Klenberg keeps core variety-store items in stock at all times, from cookware to cleaning supplies. But 60 percent of the store is dedicated to toys. You’ll find the usual fare, like baby dolls, stuffed animals and a whole section devoted to Thomas the Tank Engine.
But then you'll find the not so usual fare, and this is what sets Richard's Variety apart: the Electronic Yodeling Pickle, the Human Organ Transport lunch box and the Diva Washing-Up Sponge shaped like an afro.
Klenberg strives to make visiting Richard’s a fun experience.
“People don’t have to go shopping at all,” Klenberg said. “So we try to make shopping as amusing as possible; an excitement for the senses.”
He does this with off kilter touches like the mounted dragon head that peers down at the registers. Klenberg tells children he found the creature rummaging through the store dumpster. And the original mechanical horse he loved as a kid still runs.
“I do see this space as my own private universe,” Klenberg said.
Richard’s Variety Store
2347 Peachtree Road N.W., Atlanta. 404-237-1412; 931 Monroe Drive, Suite 113, Atlanta. 404-879-9877. www.richardsvarietystore.com.
Shopping spree
Items for purchase at Richard’s Variety Store, $20 or less.
Electronic Yodeling Pickle. A plastic cucumber thatemits yodels with the push of a button. $12.93
Human Organ Transplant Lunch Tote. This white insulated lunch sack with the words "Human Organ Transplant" across the front is sure to deter co-workers from pilfering your ham sandwich from the community fridge at work. $19.93
'A Christmas Story' Mini Leg Lamp Kit. Inspired by the 1983 holiday cult film classic, a mini three-and-a-half-inch version of the infamous leg lamp. $9.95
'Selfies: A Photo Album of Me, Myself, And I.' A small, padded book with a tiny mirror on the cover featuring 32 pages for inserting images along with sarcastic captions like "me" on one page and "me again" on the next. $11.95.
Microwavable Omelet Pan. Whip up breakfastin no time flat with this item by Nordic Ware. $2.93
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