They came to twirl a flying kinetic whale ($895), twist an Audubon bird caller ($10) and drop a metal ball through a tube to feel the odd sensation of an object falling in slow motion ($140). But really, they came to see the $15 million mechanical bird.
“Welcome in,” the Brooklyn shopkeeper said. “Feel free to pick up anything and play with it.”
If only it were that simple.
Art of Play, a cabinet of curiosities at the edge of Brooklyn Heights, found itself at the center of a social media maelstrom this week, embroiled in a feud with Kelly Clarkson, the singer and television personality.
For those who are not serially online: Ms. Clarkson went to the store on Saturday and asked about an yellow mechanical bird named Molly that was attached to the wall. The price tag said it cost $15,000. About five minutes after entering the store, she left and later took to social media to complain that a salesman — who had not seemed to recognize her — treated her as if she were not worthy of the merchandise in the store.
The store in turn said that the bird was not for sale. Ms. Clarkson pointed out the price tag. Both parties doubled down.
And then, the internet went bonkers. And Art of Play raised the price of the bird to $15 million.
Adam Rubin, an owner of the shop, declined to be interviewed at the store on Wednesday morning, but he told TMZ on Tuesday that he thought that Ms. Clarkson’s ego had been bruised because the clerk had not recognized her. He also described Ms. Clarkson’s behavior as a “gross abuse of power” and “completely reprehensible,” and said she had thrown a (proverbial) “Molotov cocktail into our shop.”
Representatives for Ms. Clarkson did not respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday morning, rain began to fall in Brooklyn as news crews and tourists continued to descend onto this very loud corner of Atlantic Avenue, one that simultaneously acts as an gateway to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and some of the most expensive real estate in New York City. The neighborhood is no stranger to celebrities (Matt Damon, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys live nearby, and Dua Lipa and Callum Turner have been spotted here recently), and this particular stretch of Atlantic Avenue is littered with want-everything-buy-nothing stores.
Art of Play is no exception. Unless, of course, you are Kelly Clarkson.
A series of brass knot puzzles were arranged from easiest to hardest. There was a kaleidoscope the size of a baseball that gives the user the feeling of being inside a Yayoi Kusama “Infinity Room” installation. That was not to be confused with a teleidoscope on the next shelf over; just the length of a matchbox, it makes the world look like a kaleidoscope through the viewfinder.
Among the puzzles and magic cards is Molly the bird, a “one-of-a-kind singing and dancing bird automaton,” as the shop described it, “who plays an important role in the magic shows” that Art of Play hosts in the back of the store.
A glaring “do not touch” sign was hanging next to the price tag.
“The world-famous bird,” one customer said.
A reporter could not resist asking the price (as was suggested on the tag) of a kinetic sand-and-ball table sculpture ($4,100) but also happily spun a wooden top ($15). Sadly, there was no demonstration of the party popper machine ($1,250), a device made of red metal and an assortment of gears that yank out party poppers with the press of a button.
Even as more customers came in, no one appeared to come out: Visitors took their time playing with items just as the shop’s clerks had encouraged them to.
The owners have not embraced the store’s sudden, social media-induced fame. Mr. Rubin (who also wrote a best-selling children’s book called “Dragons Love Tacos”) told TMZ that the shop had received a “barrage of hateful messages from Kelly Clarkson fans” as well as threats and attacks on social media.
Neighbors and others who showed support for the store online were not spared from the vitriol.
Brad Thomas Parsons, who lives two doors down from, posted an Instagram story on Sunday supporting the shop. By Monday, he found himself on the business end of a barrage of insults.
“First I was being bullied for having red hair, then for being husky,” he said. “Then it was ‘pedophile,’ ‘wannabe celebrity’ and ‘blue collar,’ as if that was an insult.”
Then someone left a comment on a picture of his cat, Enzo, wishing the cat had terminal cancer. “That was the last straw,” he said. “It left a sour taste in my mouth.”
For Ms. Clarkson, the first “American Idol” winner and one of the country’s most beloved celebrities, it was an uncharacteristically sharp exchange. By Wednesday morning, her original post on X had been viewed more than 46 million times.
Security footage obtained by the podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” shows Ms. Clarkson, wearing a gray baseball cap, sunglasses, a yellow T-shirt and a blue backpack looking at some of the shop’s merchandise and roaming around with other customers.
Just before Ms. Clarkson walks out the door, she turns to another shopkeeper, visibly agitated and gesticulating, to tell him something. The security footage did not include sound. (“Pablo Torre Finds Out” is distributed by The Athletic, the sports site owned by The New York Times Company.)
In a social media post on Monday, the shop said that it had suggested to Ms. Clarkson that she could buy a “nearly identical” version of the bird directly from Bliss Kolb, the Seattle artist who made both, for $15,000. The store added that it had offered to show Ms. Clarkson a different singing bird — a German-made automaton that it sells for $2,000 — but she “did not stick around long enough to see it.”
The bird drama has been the talk of social media, and the shop’s Brooklyn neighborhood.
Ron Brodie said the attention that the heated exchange had attracted was “totally overblown.”
“Slack reminds you when it’s after hours that maybe you want to think and pause before you send a message,” Mr. Brodie said as he left the store. “I think that would have saved a lot of drama.”
Mr. Brodie went to the shop to buy something for his daughter but left with a copy of “Fantasy” by the Italian artist and designer Bruno Munari. He said that the store’s clerks helped him as they juggled multiple customers, and that he did not believe Ms. Clarkson was discriminated against.
Instead, he said he understood that some things just aren’t for sale, Molly included.
“I’m from the school of, there’s irony in this world,” Mr. Brodie said.
He took a selfie in front of the shop before leaving.
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