Though it sounds a bit like a
fake name, there apparently really was an
Archie McPhee.
According to the Archie McPhee website, he was the
great-uncle-in-law of the current owner of the
company. In 1924, he traveled to
China and
Japan with a
jazz band he formed called the
North Star Music Makers. Since he was only the band's
manager, passage for him was not booked aboard the
S.S. President Madison, but one of the ship's
firemen never showed up for the trip, so Archie took his job shoveling
coal into the ship's
furnaces. He managed the band from the
hold of the ship.
After playing gigs at hotels and cafes in
Shanghai,
Kobe,
Yokohama, and
Manila, the band was offered a six-month contract playing at the
Army and Navy Club in
the Philippines. After that, they went home.
The website never explains why this particular
escapade made him
worthy of having a
pop-kitsch toy store named after him.
Addendum: Demeter informs me that
Archie McPhee was the name of the
campy chef in the
kitschy British soap opera "
Crossroads." This may be the true
origin of the store's name...