Everett Archives: How Funko Became Funko - a History of the Everett-based Toy Sensation
Photo // Jake Campbell
If you haven’t heard of Funko by now, you may not be an Everett resident.
The “purveyors of pop culture” (as Funko dub themselves) have become a global sensation. Their main claim to fame is their Funko Pops! figurines, which are zealously collected and traded by fans from all corners of the world.
It all began here in Snohomish County. As the holiday season reaches its peak this week, let’s take a look at the history of Everett’s biggest toymaker and how they got to be where they’re at today.
Funko was founded in Snohomish in 1998 by an entrepreneur named Mike Becker. Becker began the business out of his home. Apparently, he was something of a collector himself, and he couldn’t find a collectible coin bank in the form of the Big Boy mascot (Big Boy is a burger chain). Becker decided to manufacture collectible toys himself, and found some success after licensing the Austin Powers movie franchise. He soon had sold 80,000 toys and started marketing figurines like the Grinch, Tony the Tiger, and the Cheerios honey bee.
In 2005, Mr. Becker sold the company to Funko’s current CEO Brian Mariotti. Brian was also a bit of an entrepreneur in the Everett community, having previously opened and managed a nightclub on Colby Avenue. Mr. Mariotti moved the company to South Everett and started buying more and more licensed product lines.
By 2016 Funko had grown so large and successful that it started looking around for places to relocate. Eventually, the toymakers bought the old Bon Marche building on the southwest corner of Wetmore Avenue and California Street.
The building itself is pretty cool and has its share of history. “The Bon” building dates back to the days when retail was king in the downtown core of this mill town (this was the era before the Everett Mall shunted local dollars out of the north end of the city to the newly-developed south end of town).
The department store building was repurposed in the early 2000s as Trinity Lutheran School. An elevated walkway tunnel connected it to a multistory parking garage on the southeast corner of Wetmore and California.
The Funko takeover involved an interior remodel as the inside of the store became a retail/flagship space. The exterior was also transformed with a giant lit-up sign that spelled FUNKO in capital letters. Giant, oversized Pop! Figures lined the sidewalk and the covered bridge and the awnings of the building, turning that particular section of Downtown Everett into the whimsical, pop culture photo-op that it is today — to the delight of residents and tourists alike.
This year, for the holiday season, Funko is offering a few retail choices to make the yuletide jolly. They offer “Pop in a Box” advent calendars filled with a series of themed small Funko figurines, as well as full-sized holiday-themed Funko Pops!
If you end up patronizing Downtown Everett small businesses this holiday season, it’s probably worth stopping in their flagship store to pick up something for a pop culture fan or kid in your life. It’s the sort of place where almost everything you can buy could be construed as a stocking stuffer.
The growth of this Snohomish-based startup to an Everett-centric international retail toy superpower has been remarkable. It’s one of the many claims to fame for our fair city — a place where people can invest in something small and see big results.
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