A Harrisburg, Pennsylvania outlet store decided to celebrate its 40th birthday in a BIG way by creating the world’s largest bobblehead.
On 28 September 2022, Ollie’s Outlet Store (USA) supersized their beloved founder and mascot when they revealed a 5.04 m (16 ft 6.73 in) fully functional bobblehead. That's not much shorter than the average giraffe, which stands at around 5.5 m (18 ft).
The store sold regular-sized bobbleheads at one point and thought it would be a fun and quirky way to celebrate their birthday.
“It started as an idea to help us celebrate our 40th birthday in a big way,” said Ollie’s director of marketing, Josipa Topic.
From there we made it come to life by contacting the bobblehead’s creator – Kurt Stoner and his team to actually build the bobblehead!
The creation process took four months and included 3D modelling, hand sculpting, carving, and painting.
It took 480 hours to machine cut and hand sculpt 40 sheets of 4 ft x 8 ft (121.92 cm x 243.84 cm) light-density foam to ensure a perfect replica of the original bobblehead.
Crafting the bobblehead also required a 6-foot-long (182.88 cm) coil spring and 10.5 gallons (1,344 oz) of custom paint.
“It is different and quirky, like our brand,” said Josipa.
We also sold the miniature bobblehead in our stores at one point in time!
Josipa says creating the bobblehead was one of the most fun and memorable projects Ollie’s has ever worked on.
“It’s great to be part of bringing an idea to life,” said Josipa.
“It’s also incredibly fun to see the reaction of those that see it.”
Today, the bobblehead sits at the Ollie’s flagship store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
People are impressed by its height and often ask if his head actually bobbles!
Although the bobblehead is too tall to reach its head, it does actually bobble.
“We wanted the bobblehead to be in a place where people could visit it and see just how big this thing is,” said Josipa.
We looked into having it live in the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame & Museum but unfortunately, our bobblehead that stands over 16 feet tall was too big to fit!
Josipa says people get excited when they see the bobblehead because it’s not every day they see a giant, fully functional bobblehead.
“The bobblehead represents that we are larger than life,” said Josipa.
“Just like the savings at our stores!”
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