Museum of Useful Things

So happy to see they’ve revamped as a web-​only store!

Not so useful after all, as it turned out.

I love browsing in this store and picking up weird little things, both for myself and for my friends. For example, you know how if you read a paperback at night as you’re in bed and your thumb starts to hurt from trying to keep the book open… who knew they had a product for that?
And really useful colorful buckets you can either put recycling or wash laundry or just organize toys or knick knacks… and a fun «tool» with like 90 functions shaped like a credit card.
Plus, since I tend towards having woodsy antique-​y tastes, it makes me feel all edgy and young to be some place where everything seems industrial and metallic-​y.

If this place was actually about keeping things «useful,» they wouldn’t sell four different kinds of potato mashers. I mean really. What a waste of a great store name…

the only thing going for this store is it’s name. although, i might change it to «museum of random things you think are cool when you see them. they are bought as a last minute present because you put off shopping until 2 days before christmas. the gift is received with some interest but in the end is forgotten because it is not useful.»
we’ve survived for thousands of years without a piece of plastic to serve every random function in our lives and i’m sure we’d all survive a whole lot longer if we stopped consuming crap like this.
i guess it’s not a bad place to go if you need a quirky gift for a secret santa but that’s about the only context it makes sense.

This store always makes me feel like it exists primarily to provide space for the cast-​offs from Black Ink. This makes sense as I am under the impression from overhearing a conversation a sales clerk was having with another customer that the two stores do in fact sometimes swap inventory. So, Museum of Useful Things is sort of Black Ink’s less crowded, less daunting cousin with lower shelves.
Don’t get me wrong, on occasion I have found some neat, quirky, clever, or interesting things there… but nothing particularly useful for much other than stocking stuffers or arbitrary gifts when I am totally stumped at what to get someone.
Everything looks shiny and neat and cool, but nothing really has blown me away in terms of «omg originality!»
However, they do offer a pretty cute service, which is that they will can items for you… so if you feel like messing with a friend or loved one, you can do something obnoxious like buy a bunch of finger puppets and have them canned.
I’ve never found the staff to be particularly friendly, and have never approached them for help so I have no idea if they are helpful.

I do like this store, but it’s usefulness is rather variable. I went in looking for a Christmas present for beau (who always spends WAY TO MUCH TIME looking at things in here). But this particular visit I couldn’t find anything that really says «I love you, here’s something that’s not a house-​hold toy for me too.»
Now that I think about it, a gift card would have been right though.
Okay. If you’re not an idiot shopper like myself, this store is useful.

I found this store when I was wandering around the area a couple of years ago.
A neat store with an eclectic collection of small and big things. They get credit just for selling stuff that you liked but don’t see around anymore.
Kinda small and easy to bump into people and things.

Another one of those stocking stuffer/​Christmas present-​friendly stores. They have a website those of us not living in the Boston area can use. Unique gifts galore.

I’ll totally cop to having a very twisted sense of humor. The MUT gives me a wonderful outlet for said sense of humor, with their «gift cans». Yes, if you have a small enough gift (or gifts), you can have those suckers put into tin cans (about the size of a soup can) that the recipient actually needs to open with a can opener. Freakin’ brilliant.

Fabulous gifts here. Unusual little bobbles for just about anyone that you could possibly buy a gift for. The prices are reasonable on most stuff, though the really good stuff will set you back a pretty penny. Even if you don’t buy anything, it’s fun to look around and get ideas for things to make yourself.

Store of poor layout and extraordinary mark-​ups.
Here you can:
Collate paper with Chinese aluminum for $ 48!
Stop your door for $ 8!
Open your cans for $ 32!
Mop with an «Italian Mop Made In Italy» [sic, sic] for $ 33!
I love design, and often don’t hesitate to pay a premium for it, but I walked out of here with a head-​shaking/​chuckle combo. (That’s a mannerism, not a useful thing I bought.)

I bought teeny tiny pipe cleaners here for my teeny tiny bong. No, I don’t smoke pot, but the guys in my doll-​house sized frat house do (at least the 3^rd floor fellas).
Actually, no, I don’t own a regular sized bong, much less a miniature one, though now that I’m thinking of it, it would be kind of cool to make a dollhouse that’s tricked out like a crack house or a frat house… A diorama of modern debauchery, if you will.
I digress… I DID buy miniature pipe cleaners here. I forget the reasoning I originally applied to the purchase («Hey!!! These are PERFECT for cleaning my dog’s ear wax!). Years later, I came across them in an old back pack and they are IDEAL for deep cleaning my infant daughter’s bottles.
I really like this store and everything in it really is truly useful to somebody. Worth swinging by just to check out. I guarantee that you will not have been in a store like it in your whole life.

Every product has a purpose, so everything is useful; thus, how do they contain everything in a small shop? The things there are not for everyone, nor will everyone find them useful. A good store to waste your time browsing around, but small and crowded when I went. There’s not really anything you would buy unless you’re really into novelty items.

I’m not sure if they’re related to Black Ink (store setup is similar), but they are the more practical cousin. Why should you buy a silly toy at Black Ink when you can get an extremely useful insulated lunchbag at Museum of Useful Things? Not to say that everything at MoUT is boring and practical, but they do have a an amazing amount of… well, useful things.
Where else can you get those round paperclips you’ve always wanted!

Ever wonder what to get the weird distant relatives around Holiday time? This is your place, a little Harvard Square store which definitely lives up to it’s name. After your eyelids widen with amusement at the fantastic things you are left wondering ‘why didn’t I think of that’?! Corky, and odd with a modern/​hip flair the store definitely has got charisma. Although it’s all random your sure to find a little useful something here for everyone.

I love this store! If I could have everything in this store, I’d be happy. Just kidding. But seriously, this place has lots of fun stuff — every SIGG bottle you can imagine (less toxic than Lexan bottles), cool plastic sheet-​protector things, pocket protectors, & really expensive but cool kitchen supplies. On top of it all, the staff were really nice — and totally didn’t bat an eye at my toddler sitting in a corner, playing with an egg beater. I love this store and its staff — far superior to its sister store, Black Ink, down the street.

Great little shop full of odd yet somehow useful things.
Containers for containers, clips of sorts, unique books and gadgets, rubber knobs, pens, notebooks… all sorts of things that sit in your kitchen or office space. No techy electronics though. fun shop. check it out!

Very cool. If you are close to Harvard square have a look at this place. They have all sorts of eye candy. The whole store is a sort of playground for adults. Although the staff is not always friendly, they know what everything is used for (sometimes not at all obvious). Unfortunately the coolest things are not always for sale, like the huge metal bolt used as a doorstop.

This place used to be over more towards Inman Square, I think, and I sort of liked it better when I had to work harder to get there. It has some cool stuff (I got one of those bottle openers you attach to the wall for $ 4.50), but I like the real old stuff they have on display (not for sale) better than the crap they actually sell.