On a rainy Wednesday afternoon, a novelty toy and games store in the quiet Brooklyn neighbourhood of Cobble Hill was seeing much busier foot traffic than usual.
Inside, the shop was packed with cameramen and customers, while passersby looked inside, asking: “Where’s the bird?”
Art of Play has found itself at the centre of a social media storm since the weekend when Grammy-winning musician Kelly Clarkson complained online that the boutique store would not let her buy a singing and dancing mechanical bird that was perched on the wall.
The Since U Been Gone singer claimed she was “looked at as if I couldn’t afford” the bird – which she said had a price tag of $15,000 (£11,000).
In a follow-up post on social media, Clarkson said the store had told her the bird cost $15,000 and that they could find her something else “comparable”.
Art of Play has defended how it treated the star on social media, saying the wooden bird – which is called Molly – is permanently attached to the wall and is not for sale.
It said that during Clarkson’s five-minute visit on Saturday, an employee suggested to her that she could buy an identical bird for $15,000.
They also said they had offered her a different singing bird for $2,000 from a clock-making shop in Germany, which she could have purchased that day.
“Imagine our surprise when our small local business was suddenly attacked by eight million people who have never visited our store,” Art of Play said.
“It’s been a surreal experience to be the focus of such widespread outrage after just one mention by a celebrity.”
Clarkson defended her decision to criticise the store on social media, saying: “I never blast people but you my friend were an exception.”
When the BBC visited the store on Wednesday, there were more reporters than customers.
A shopkeeper said they would not comment on the story anymore and just wanted to get back to business as usual.
Molly still hung on the wall at the shop, this time next to a price tag of $15m.
The sign jokes that the sculpture is the “world’s most famous singing bird automata!”
The store’s owner has said he and his staff have faced threats and harassment after Clarkson’s complaint, telling the BBC’s US partner CBS News that the singer had endangered them.
This week, a man filmed himself yelling expletives outside the store, before accusing its employees of “racially profiling” Clarkson.
The kerfuffle lingered in headlines on Wednesday as a news outlet released surveillance video from Art of Play purporting to show Clarkson’s visit.
The grainy footage, which has no audio, is said to show her wearing a yellow shirt, a baseball cap and a backpack while browsing items, including Molly the bird.
She can be seen talking with an employee – apparently about the bird as she points at it – and later moving to leave the store. She comes back in to say something animatedly to the cashier.
But while the argument over the bird has gone viral online, some of Art of Play’s customers had not heard about it before being greeted by news cameras on the premises.
One customer who was in town visiting his daughter said he was not familiar with the controversy.
For others, Clarkson’s claims that those at the store had treated her rudely came as a surprise.
Kiran Ramineni, who lives next door, described Art of Play as a “very nice small mom and pop store” and said he had seen flocks of journalists there in recent days.
Shopgoer Emily Trantanella, 27, said: “I feel like a pretty woman and I’ve always been treated very well here.
“I really like it here.”
