A vintage Ghostbusters T-shirt. Gym clothing with a cause behind it. And a whole bunch of Baby Yoda stuffed animals.

The variety of products sold at three new stores opening in the Fresno area is huge.

The stores include a vintage clothing shop in downtown Fresno, a workout wear store in Old Town Clovis, and a gaming shop with gifts in northwest Fresno.

Here’s a look at what’s happening at each store.

Gym clothes in Clovis

A new boutique on Pollasky Avenue in Clovis is selling workout wear with a side of philanthropy.

Smashing 350HP opens Monday, July 19, next to The Craft House restaurant, on the corner of Eighth Street and Pollasky Avenue.

Inside are matching sets of leggings and sports bras, workout shorts, and other “athleisure” clothing, the athletic-inspired clothing worn for lounging around or running errands.

A nutritional bar serving protein shakes and bars with a place to sit is also in the works.

About $5 from the sales of everything from cups to clothing goes to various causes. For example, a portion of the sale of a $149 set of leggings and bra tops with multi-colored splashes of color will go toward organizations supporting people with autism.

Smashing 350HP also works with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and other organizations.

The shorts sell for $39.99. Most sets of clothing are $120 and up.

The clothing was designed by company founder and CEO Irma Polanco.

“My clothing line comes with a message,” she said. “It’s a message of success, of empowerment.”

Polanco was a housewife for 10 years before going through a difficult divorce where she said she was left with no money and ruined credit.

She clawed her way back, she said, first by designing and selling hair accessories and now the shop.

The shop also has ties to the bodybuilding world.

A grand opening event Friday showcased rhinestone-studded stage bikinis worn in bodybuilding competitions. They were made by another Clovis native, Frankie Vessells, who started Andy B Bikinis.

Andy B is Andy Borneman, a local bodybuilder who is also Vessells’ sister and Polanco’s coach.

And the name Smashing 350HP?

It’s a reference to smashing through barriers. The 350HP is a nod to horsepower, a term Polanco said she hears thrown around by weightlifters powering through a workout.

“You get that Mustang, that horsepower in you,” she said.

Downtown vintage clothing

There are some major changes happening at FTK, the appointment-only vintage streetwear shop run by Sam Hansen.

First is the name.

FTK (or, For the Kids) is now Starchild Archives.

That’s a reference to Parliament-Funkadelic (and connection between hip-hop and funk) and also a nod to David Bowie’s character Ziggy Stardust. The store will continue to sell vintage fashion (along with FTK branded merch and the like) out of its space on Van Ness Avenue downtown.

But Hansen is stepping away, and it will now be run by Brandi Williams, an ex-Fresnan who operates her own vintage boutique, 606 Thrift Ave. in Cape Cod, Mass. Eventually, the two stores (and inventory) will merge.

Williams worked at FTK’s store on Blackstone Avenue in the late 2000s and “was one of the few people who believed in the FTK Vintage Section,” Hansen says. She became a vintage collector because of it.

“She has FTK in her DNA. She loves and respects the brand and wants to see it grow,” Hansen says.

Hansen is most recently known for his marketing successes with the Fresno Grizzlies and for curating more than a few popular pop-up events. But he operated two FTK locations in the early 2000s; one in Visalia and a second on Blackstone Avenue in Fresno (where Kanye West did a meet-and-greet in 2005).

“We created the vintage section in FTK to be used as an archive or a Smithsonian-like collection for reference,” Hansen says.

“People were confused by it. Some even mocked it.”

FTK closed in 2011 and reopened with just the vintage collection (which Hansen had kept in storage) in 2019.

Hansen continued to use the FTK brand for event and promotions work, and these changes, he says, are meant to distinguish the store from the brand, which made an announcement of its own this week. The brand is now FTK Construction and will serve as a marketing agency.

“The brand that builds brands has something bigger in store,” Hansen says.

Details: Starchild Archives, 1830 Van Ness Ave. Open by appointment. 559-786-1578.

Retro games and collectibles

Blue Shell Gaming & Collectibles opened its third location and its first in Fresno about a month ago. It’s a retro game shop at Bullard and West avenues, selling video games and accessories, along with collectibles and gifts.

There’s a lot going on here, including sales of games for PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox games, from Fortnite to the MLB baseball-themed games.

In the back of the store is the part that nongamers might find interesting: All kinds of stuffed animals, including lots of Baby Yoda dolls and a wall Funko Pop! collectibles.

Those are the vinyl dolls with oversized heads that come in almost every character from pop culture you can imagine. Any characters from the TV show “The Office” are popular, including the Toby v. Michael two-pack.

“It’s really hard to keep on the shelf,” said sales manager Daniel Evans. “(Collectors are) in here all the time to see what new pops are here.”

The store also caters to collectors of an even more specific niche who collect vintage video games and systems.

There are games released only in Japan, for example, selling for $120, and old gaming systems like the Panasonic 3DO Interactive Multiplayer system released in the 1990s.

“It’s just something that will look really good on their mantel,” Evans said. “I can’t imagine they’ll get much playtime from it.”

Details: Blue Shell Gaming & Collectibles is at 1731 W. Bullard Ave. Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. 559-777-9028.

This story was originally published July 13, 2021 at 11:00 AM.

Bethany Clough

The Fresno Bee

(559) 441-6431

Bethany Clough covers restaurants and retail for The Fresno Bee. A reporter for more than 20 years, she now works to answer readers’ questions about business openings, closings and other business news. She has a degree in journalism from Syracuse University and her last name is pronounced Cluff.