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Shelves lined with soft drinks, cereals, and produce; a deli counter, overflowing with charcuterie. At first glance, Omega Mart seems like a perfectly ordinary, all-American shopping mart. But that’s just the first glance. Because once you have taken in the broader details, the finer ones slowly start to seep in.
Take a closer look, but not too close
The moment you start inspecting any one of the available products closely, you will be overcome with a sense of bewilderment, followed by complete disorientation. You will notice that the produce section consists of some unusual picks. Instead of having regular bell peppers, they have Pareidolia peppers. While they closely resemble your average red bell pepper, what sets them apart is their personality. Instead of being chock-full of nutrients, these peppers are brimming with extreme angst, which is clearly visible on their faces. Yes, these peppers have faces, and these faces, are screaming – all of them. If you’re not a big fan of bell peppers, perhaps you’ll prefer the classic and crowd-favorite vegetable Zalg. If you’re wondering what in god’s name Zalg is, you’re not alone, because no one knows.
Having a party? Want to impress your guests with a fancy charcuterie board? Omega Mart’s deli counter is the place to go. Here you’ll get the choicest selection of meats, which truly are a class apart. For instance, the cross-sections of their hams have the Monalisa engraved on them. Talk about classy, right? Worried about the main course? Don’t, you can always depend on Omega Mart’s good ol’ Nebula loaf to save the day. The list of such bizarre-sounding items goes on. The further you go down this list, the harder it gets to describe what you’re seeing.
Wait, is this….a door?
The oddities of Omega Mart go far beyond its otherworldly, and delirium-inducing products. To say that the facility is full of surprises, would be an understatement. The doors behind an average deli counter usually lead to a butcher shop or a freezing unit. Here, it leads to a factory that extracts something called the “human factor”. Which is then used to manufacture Omega Mart products. Even an action as innocuous as turning the fridge door handle could open up a passageway that might lead you to an abandoned hidden village.
Every product and structure inside Omega Mart transcends the realm of the ordinary and functional. So then, why are they there?
More importantly, what is Omega Mart?
This bizarre Lovecraftian nightmare masquerading as your everyday shopping mart is an art installment, designed by the Santa Fe-based art company, Meow Wolf. All these hidden passageways, peculiar products, and delirium-inducing structures are intended to come together to create a mind-bending, immersive, and thought-provoking psychedelic experience. With over 300 artistic minds behind this exhibit, Omega Mart is brimming with aesthetic allegories, social commentaries, and just plain absurdity. The sheer amount of intricate detailing that has gone into each and every single one of these art pieces, making up this enormous facility, is simply impressive. Thankfully, the team at Meow Wolf had enough time to practice.
A little backstory
The current version of Omega Mart in Las Vegas has had several predecessors, though at a smaller scale. The initial version of Omega Mart was nothing but a tiny shop resembling a yard sale. And while there were no secret passageways, the shelves were still lined up with products, declaring their thrifty yet still distinctive abnormality. The word of this tiny store selling these “weird” products got around; started gathering a crowd, and eventually a fan base. From there on out, the idea of Omega Mart grew, evolved, and expanded to become what it is today. The current installment, which is a permanent one, was launched in February 2021.
Needless to say, a facility this big and this complex demanded an enormous amount of time, energy, and creativity. Fortunately, the team at Meow Wolf had all of these in abundance. In fact, one of Meow Wolf’s previous installments, the House of Eternal Return, got generous funding of 3.5 Million USD from the renowned author George R.R Martin. With investors brandishing money in their faces, and people lining up to see their installments, the team at Meow Wolf have hit the gas on their upcoming projects. Meow Wolf has promised its fans that there will be more, a whole lot more. Till then, their fans can appease themselves by visiting their other fascinating installments all across the United States, including Omega Mart in Las Vegas.
