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I built my own ‘Itty Bitty Gritty’ at the new Gritty store. He’s hideous. I love him.

Gritty’s Chaos Factory is the Flyers' mascot's next evolution in chaos, but definitely not his last.

Flyers mascot Gritty greets fans during the grand opening of Gritty’s Chaos Factory at the Wells Fargo Center Monday.
Flyers mascot Gritty greets fans during the grand opening of Gritty’s Chaos Factory at the Wells Fargo Center Monday. Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

At the opening of Gritty’s Chaos Factory at the Wells Fargo Center Monday, Gritty pushed a New Jersey Devils fan out of his store, made a baby cry, and rolled Connie Hess away in her wheelchair as she posed for a photo with him.

“This isn’t the first time. He’s taken me for a ride before,” Hess, 71, of Lebanon, said.

When Gritty saw me documenting his antics, he stole my notebook, used my back as a desk, and wrote: “10/10 no notes” on a page I shall cherish forevermore (and let’s be honest, probably frame).

I went to the opening to test out the store’s make-your-own “Itty Bitty Gritty” doll experience, which gives fans a chance to customize a Gritty plushie with one of his many iconic outfits.

I was dubious I could love a new Gritty plushie as much as the three I already have. There’s the Gritty with suction cups on his paws that clings to our kitchen window and scares intruders from our back door. There’s the one in an orange jersey we used as a Christmas tree topper for a few years, who now guards our liquor stash in the dining room. And there’s the Gritty in a black jersey in my home office who hangs out with a Phanatic doll and is visible behind me in every Zoom call.

The last one is the most special because he also served as the ring bearer’s pillow at my wedding (we safety-pinned the rings on him).

Gritty’s Chaos Factory is in section 118, in part of the space that used to contain his Command Center, where folks could get painted orange to look like Gritty. That closed down amid the pandemic and as the Flyers brought retail in-house and reimagined the space, they again turned their sights to their wildly popular mascot.

“His variety of plushies are consistently a top seller for us,” said Christine Mina, Flyers’ senior vice president of marketing. “But we didn’t have one we truly felt conveyed Gritty’s personality and we thought this would be an exciting way to try and deliver on that.”

The store is only open during Flyers games, so it’s also a sneaky way to get Gritty’s fans to a game. Given it’s been 50 years since the Flyers won a Stanley Cup and 15 years since they were even at the dance, the team can use the help.

While mascots are typically created to bring kids into a sport, Gritty’s popularity extends well beyond children to adults and fans of opposing teams, too. My cousin and her husband live in Duluth and are Minnesota Wild fans, but their passion for Gritty rivals even my own.

Gritty’s chaotic nature and very existence speak to the absurdity of life and it’s endeared him to folks around the world. Perhaps nowhere is that clearer than in section 122, Gritty’s Chaos Corner, where fans pay to get a front-row seat to Gritty’s shenanigans and the chance to interact with the orange agent of chaos himself.

Every second he’s not doing a skit or throwing popcorn at people, Gritty is posing for pictures with kids and adults, many of whom come from other sections and miss watching the game for their turn with the giant jovial ginger.

Gritty’s Chaos Factory is his next evolution in chaos, but definitely not his last.

“There’s always more chaos to be had,” Mina said.

The store is surprisingly small, but it’s packed full of Gritty merchandise from floor to ceiling. On the exterior a sign reads: “Days since last chaos: 0.” There’s zero percent chance that sign will ever change.

Also on the exterior is a ridiculously long and rambling message from Gritty that’s about the dolls but also about dogs, fire alarms, snow cones, and the lyrics of a 2003 Gavin DeGraw song. The font gets absurdly small as the message goes on, a nod to the contract Willy Wonka makes visitors sign before entering his factory.

The store is stocked with Gritty shirts and hats, including a baseball cap/trapper hat that comes with fuzzy orange ear flaps. In kiosks in the center, there are hundreds of tiny Gritty plushies, which are called “Shoulder Fans.” These dolls, which retail for $24.99, are magnetized in their behinds and come with a small, thin, puck-shaped magnet you put under your shirt so you can carry them around on your shoulder.

“I’m buying the Gritty magnet because it will irritate the heck out of my husband and I can stick him everywhere,” Lauren Deck, 49, of Lancaster, said.

The back wall is stocked with the make-your-own “Itty Bitty Gritty” plushies stuffed in boxes that read “PICK ME,” and they’re much larger than any other Gritty dolls I’ve seen. Aside from a black helmet and shorts, they come nearly naked, but you do get a jersey with the $39.99 doll.

Choosing the right Gritty doll out of dozens was hard, but I went with the one I felt most stared into the depths of my soul.

Speaking of staring, while the Itty Bitty Gritty doll’s eyes are the most unhinged yet, they sadly do not move independently of one another, or at all, as the real Gritty’s do.

“We really went back and forth on that one for a long time. We tried so many iterations, but the quality wasn’t what we wanted,” Mina told me.

Once I picked out my doll, which has squeakers in its paws like the real Gritty, it was time to choose one of six of Gritty’s iconic suits: Santa Claus, a turkey, the Easter Bunny, Rocky, a swimsuit with a rubber duck floaty, and a leprechaun. The outfits range from $14.99 to $19.99.

Gritty told me his favorite was the leprechaun suit, but I went with the Easter Bunny costume because it was the most ridiculous. I also grabbed a five-pack of colorful belly buttons, which Velcro onto the Itty Bitty Gritty’s tummy like the real thing, and retail for $9.99.

It took me a minute to figure out how to get the bunny jumper (which is shaped like lederhosen) onto my Itty Bitty Gritty, but once I did and added the purple belly button, rabbit ears, and bunny snout with buck teeth that wraps around his head, I thought: He’s hideous. I love him.

The price point is pretty steep — you could spend $70 on a doll, costume, and pack of belly buttons alone — but the quality is superior to previous iterations and I have no doubt Gritty has fans willing to pay.

As time goes on, the Flyers hope to release more of Gritty’s iconic costumes, perhaps his Barbie suit or his mermaid outfit, so you can dress your Itty Bitty Gritty up for any occasion, or for no reason at all.

You could even make him into a ring bearer pillow, if you want to.