Best Oddities Shops in Denver: From Skulls to Creepy Clowns

Living people often try to ignore the strange and unusual; most think it’s icky or unbecoming to have a stagnant skull or stuffed dead animal on display. But if you're into the strange or unusual? We've got just the thing for you: a roundup of stores that specialize in oddities.

Whether every day is Halloween in your haunted head or you’re doing some early holiday shopping for your ghoul friend, check out these five shops:

Brass Armadillo Antique Mall
11301 West Interstate 70 Frontage Road North, Wheat Ridge
We’re going to ease into the local oddities scene by throwing you into the labyrinth-of-an-antique-mall that is Brass Armadillo.

Thousands of items await inside, but a keen eye will guide you to the good stuff, whether it’s a locked-up case showing off animal remains (skulls and bones, not roadkill) or a larger, open-air space where taxidermy hangs. If you keep your wits about you, you’ll also be privy to find some original weirdo art that incorporates both.

“I’m just a worm,” you might say.

Well, things are not always what they seem in this place, so you can’t take anything for granted. If you’re looking right, the Brass Armadillo is full of openings, as well as weird stuff. Also, it’s insanely well organized for how big it is, with street names for each aisle and numbered booths. An army of Armadillo workers operate a well-oiled system, scurrying about unlocking stalls and retrieving items, which they’ll hold for you at the front. There’s even a concession stand so you can take a break and replenish before diving back into the maelstrom.

The mall, which is one of six such locations across five states, works for both amateurs and dedicated diggers who know exactly what they’re looking for, though it can be as disorienting as Jareth’s Goblin Kingdom.



The Learned Lemur
2220 East Colfax Avenue
Long-running oddities shop the Learned Lemur occupies a nondescript spot on Colfax, but what lies inside makes it truly stand out from its neighbors.

The Lemur hits like a macabre museum at first. Guests are welcomed by a skeletal zebra wearing a brown top hat under a crystal chandelier, which occupies the middle of the space; taxidermy pieces of all ilk keep watch from their respective corners. Clustered near the cash register, a mountain lion lurks, while a giraffe head rises above it like a basketball hoop. A lemur, sporting the same lid as the bone pony, relaxes on its own perch, naturally.

Digging around a little deeper, curious connoisseurs can unearth smaller treasures such as pinned insects, vintage photography and circus posters, iron nails and human teeth. One prominent display case houses several human skulls, which are highly sought after by certain collectors. Other than what’s for sale, the Lemur offers taxidermy services, including pet memorials, and employs an army of Dermestid beetles (aka flesh-eating beetles) to help.

Owners Jon Alberico and Bex Schimoler opened the business in 2016; it moved into its current digs in 2021. The two-story location is now home to Conspiracy Theory Tattoo, as well. Then there’s the Conspiracy Circus, a sideshow that Alberico oversees as ringleader. It’s all part of the Lemur collective, though, as a group of lemurs is called a conspiracy. The more you know...

The Oddemporium
1534 South Broadway

Scavenged Goods
3229 East Colfax Avenue
Scavenged Goods, a short walk from the Learned Lemur, isn’t as posh or polished as other oddities shops, but it doesn’t want to be, and that’s part of its charm.

Owner and professional picker Chip Litherland started what would eventually become a full-blown brick-and-mortar business in 2021, when his work as a full-time photographer dwindled during the pandemic. He busied himself by hitting estate sales and auctions and “embracing the lost, dirty and unusual items found in abandoned storage units,” as the Scavenged Goods motto reads.

It’s like sneaking into and rummaging around the cluttered room of your cooler older siblings when they’re not home. The walls are covered with hip movie posters (The Shining, Rock ’n’ Roll High School) and fun shit (life-sized Halloween skeleton, National Park pennants). There are vintage band T-shirts packed onto racks, stacks of VHS tapes, piles of comics and vinyl, pins, old-school toys, back issues of Playboy (weirdly collectible), a one-eyed Mickey Mouse doll wearing a Morbid Angel Altars of Madness tee. Okay, that last one might sound like something you’d find in Sid Phillips's bedroom, but you get the gist. There’s even a clown-themed room tucked away in the back.

While Litherland does have some traditional taxidermy in store, Scavenged Goods is the place to go if you’re looking for something a little more punk rock, like leather chaps.