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{{trope}}
[[File:Spatula-
{{quote|''"Spatula City! We Sell Spatulas... And That's All!"''
|''[[UHF (film)|UHF]]'' }}
A '''Severely Specialized Store''' is a retail outlet that only deals with an incredibly narrow product range, typically one or two items of a very specific type. As this trope is almost always invoked due to [[Rule of Funny]], the store's products will be ''exactly'' what the protagonists need in their moment of crisis. How such a business manages to stay in operation, or why the heroes can't just go to a general-purpose merchant, is never raised.
Also see [[Crippling Overspecialization]], [[The Magazine Rule]]. Contrast [[We Sell Everything]].
{{examples
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* Rob Haynie's [[Original Flavour]] ''[[Ranma ½]]'' fanfic ''[[Girl Days]]'' features the "Nagayosi Mallet Factory Outlet" in its [[Beach Episode]] chapter. Subverted in that the store ''was'' teetering on the brink of going out of business until several dozen girls needed weapons to pound [[Panty Thief|Happosai]] with.
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[UHF (film)|UHF]]'' features a commercial for "Spatula City".
* ''[[Freaked]]'' has the massive conglomerate Everything Except Shoes. {{spoiler|The [[Big Bad]] eventually mutates the CEO into a massive tennis shoe just to screw with him.}}
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* This is a recurring joke in some of Robert Munsch's children's books. "Zoom!" starts with the protagonists visiting a wheelchair store (an obvious [[Expy]] of a car dealership), while "Smelly Socks" includes a trip to the city's socks store, which is so large it can be seen from the river.
* ''[[Captain Underpants]]'': Inverted in ''Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman'': To help Captain Underpants regain his powers, George and Harold need to get some fabric softener to counteract the spray starch that took them away. They run to a new store that opened nearby, which turns out to be "Everything BUT Fabric Softener."
* Mr. Ollivander of ''[[Harry Potter]]'' sells wands.
* The ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[
* Douglas Adams' non-fiction book ''Last Chance To See'' recounts his befuddled trip through several of these.
== [[Live
* In an episode of ''[[Northern Exposure]]'', Shelly is interested in going to the Mall of America; she mentions that they have a whole store that's just socks. (This is true in [[Real Life]]. It's called "Just Socks.")
* A variation appears in a skit from ''[[All That]]'', with a retail store that sells only a single pair of pants.
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== Video Games ==
* A common staple of roleplaying games where a store sells magic spells or gear so ridiculously powerful that only a very rich legendary hero could buy or use them.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' series, stores that sell more than three or four items are a rarity (and most stores have at least one exclusive item). Parodied on ''[[Cracked.com|Cracked]]'' with a photomanipulation of a [[Real Life]] storefront: "I Sell Three Things (And That's It)". [https://web.archive.org/web/20131005152300/http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_273_26-ads-products-that-must-exist-in-video-games_p26/#25 Ads for Products That Must Exist in Video Games].
* Paragon City in ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has five chains of stores that cater solely to heroes of a specific origin, selling only enhancements they can use (although they will ''buy'' enhancements of other origins, usually for less than the right chain will).
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Megas XLR]]'', Coop or the [[Monster of the Week]] often demolish bizarrely (and hilariously) specialized buildings during the fight. The implication generally being that they're unneeded and thus [[Conveniently Empty Building|conveniently empty.]]
* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1
{{quote|'''Spike:''' But the store is called Quills and Sofas! You only sell ''two'' things!
'''Shopkeeper:''' Sorry, Junior. All outta quills until Monday. ([[beat]]) Need a sofa? }}
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Settings]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
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