The Story Behind Our Name

In January 2025, I took my family to Nashville to see Ringo Starr. The whole trip was a birthday gift for my teenage son, who is a massive Beatles fan. Somewhere during the show, Ringo played "Octopus's Garden," and I could not stop thinking about it afterward.

The story behind the song is that while Ringo was on vacation in Sardinia, a boat captain told him that octopuses wander the ocean floor picking up shiny objects and interesting stones, then carry them back to arrange little gardens outside their caves. Ringo thought that was wonderful and wrote a song about it.

I thought it was wonderful too, but it stuck with me for a different reason. I had been wanting to open a shop for years, somewhere I could put all the things I love in one place. I have been into vinyl my whole life, and I am the kind of person who cannot walk through a market without filling a bag with one-of-a-kind finds and gifts.

When I heard that story about the octopus and its garden, the name just made sense. That is what Octopus Garden is: my own little garden, on land, full of shiny things. A record shop and gift store in New Port Richey, Florida, stocked with the stuff I actually want to own. Vinyl I play at home. Gifts I would buy for my best friend. And a bunch of things that just caught my eye and had to come along.

The name is a tribute to a great song, a great story, and the idea that the best shops are personal, curated by someone who genuinely loves what is on the shelves.