Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills needs donations amid COVID-19 pandemic
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. - It'd be tough to place Jeremy Yagoda's business into a genre of retail - there's really no obvious place to put it.
The flashing lights on arcade games from generations ago flicker with a retro-style rhythm that can't be found in today's creations. Is it a toy shop? An arcade store?
The way Yagoda describes his store is controlled chaos. But for others, there's no better category to place it in than just "marvelous."
"Wouldn't the world be a little more marvelous if people took nonsense a little more seriously? We all need someplace to go and just release and be a kid," said Yagoda.
Yagoda runs Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills.
Working to save Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum
A museum of oddities in Farmington Hills is reaching out to the community for financial assistance as it awaits more encouraging news to reopen. Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum has been closed since the pandemic started and is in need of assistance.
"It's kind of controlled chaos, sensory overload. I have arcade games from the earliest of the 1900s, to the most modern video games, ticket redemption, kitty rides. We import games, we have lots of one-of-a-kind unique otamatone working models," said Yagoda.
The business was first opened by Yagoda's father, Marvin. A Detroit pharmacist by trade, a family-run business eight decades, the family went a different route in the 1980s.
The tribute to games old and new could have been plucked out of one of those decades and it would still make sense. But instead, it finds itself at a weird crossroads in 2020, a year that has been even weirder for some, and not kind to business for others.
"We were closed just like everybody else in early March. But unfortunately, I have a landlord so I still have to pay rent, I have to pay insurance," says the manager.
It's not just rent, however. To keep these antique pieces of fun running requires constant maintenance and having power running through its circuitry. If the power is shut off, the machines stop working.
"Things need to be kept moving even though there's not people playing certain games, old motors, the oils need to be kept moving to be kept lubricated and there's a lot of maintenance that stills goes on behind the scenes here every day," he said.
The total monthly cost comes to $10,000 a month. But until the store can fully embrace a reopening fit for classic games, it's relying on donations, including from a GoFundMe page.
"Not everybody can donate, I understand that but the people who take the time to share the GoFundMe with their friends out there, and the people that share their stories."