Quacky Craze: London’s new chain of Rubber Duck shops

Something very yellow and very rubber is popping up around London — a chain of shops that sells just one thing – rubber ducks.

You’ve seen them in gift shops before, the curiously caricatured ducks that manage to look a bit like famous people who have had bad lip surgery, through to duck-shaped buildings and or even ducky vehicles. At first glance, they look cheesy and awful, yet, as any museum shop buyer will tell you, they sell in huge quantities. People like the combination of a duck and London icon into one garish yet popular toy.

Many people will have had a rubber duck as a child, but they’re a much older toy than many of us realise. They date back to the emergence of rubber manufacturing in the late 19th century. Initially made from hard rubber, they were sold as chew toys for toddlers.

Later, the sculptor Peter Ganine invented the classic yellow duck, when in 1947, he designed a lightweight vinyl duck, coloured yellow and containing a squeaker inside.

Yes, your rubber duck is a work of art.

The ducks sold in their millions and later became associated with bathtime as a way of encouraging child development and getting used to being in the water. The association was boosted when Ernie, the cheerful orange Muppet on Sesame Street, first sang the catchy ditty Rubber Duckie to his best bath buddy.

Yes, your rubber duck is an educational tool.

Later, someone came up with caricatures based on the yellow duck, and what had been a commodity toy became a collectable instead. People collect them, some obsessively so, and therefore, it’s not a huge leap for there to be shops that sell nothing but rubber ducks. To the curious, to the tourist, to the collector.

And now popping up around London, there’s Duck World, offering up to 300 different designs of ducks to choose from, ranging from pea-sized to, well, really quite big actually – less a duck than an albatross.

If the idea of a single-product store seems odd, there’s clearly demand for a wider range of rubber ducks than the handful you might find in a gift shop. A bit like when you’re shopping for a birthday card, if you can find a duck that’s relevant to the recipient, then the gift is more likely to raise a laugh when opened.

I used to work in retail, and there’s a rule that if something comes in a wide variety of styles, then most shops will sell a handful of top-selling styles. However, the specialist, with the wide range, will sell vastly more per square foot than expected. People will seek out the specialist.

That’s why people flock to niche shops such as Jedi Robe, Forbidden Planet, the Who Shop, or Animetal. They seek out the shop that is more likely to have what they want. So now Duck Depot by Duck World joins that list of specialist retailers.

The Victoria store opened about six weeks ago, and on my visit, prompted by James Ball’s photo, the store manager, Elena, was serving a customer who was soon walking out with a duck in a bag. A few curious people popped in for a look, although admittedly, outside the shop, the main comment about it that I heard was bemusement.

Football ducks, Donald Trump ducks, Royal ducks, Big Ben ducks, all the ducks.

The ducks have arrived, they’re yellow, and they’re coming to a high street near you.