What kind of person sells the humorously twisted Greetings from Uranus cards? In the case of Sue Sanem, a surprisingly normal one -- at least on the surface.

The famous “Waiting for the Interurban” sculpture in Seattle’s Fremont district.

A longtime Uranus retailer, Sue owns Portage Bay Goods in Seattle's funky Fremont district -- a neighborhood where software engineers, hemp-wearing vegans, metropolitan shoppers and tourists all come to work, live and play together.

After managing the store for several years, Sue bought Portage Bay Goods in 2000. And slowly, the inventory began tochange. "I do have kind of a weird sense of humor and found that other people also did," she says with a laugh at a coffee shop across the street from her eclectic shop. She still carries many of the eco-friendly, hand-crafted goods that Portage Bay started out with, but she's added her own subversive touches, including Greetings from Uranus cards.

Edgy Holiday cards a hit

"I really, really love your cards," she says. And more than that, they fill an important niche for her: Portage Bay customers were clamoring for edgy, irreverent holiday cards. But Sue found very few companies producing truly hilarious Christmas cards - until she found Greetings from Uranus. It turned out to be a match made in retail heaven: Her customers scooped up the Uranus holiday cards so quickly that Sue had to place two re-orders the first holiday season she carried them.

	The merchandise at Portage Bay Goods reflects the personality of owner Sue Sanem.

And the love affair didn't end after that first December. Now, "we get customers that come in every year specifically for the Uranus holiday cards," Sue says. One of her top selling Uranus cards is "Galley Slaves," a twisted take on corporate Secret Santa programs. Her customers also enjoy "Catch & Release," an ironic look at a misguided couple who wants to chop down a living tree for Christmas and still be "green." "We sold a lot of those last Christmas," Sue chuckles. "I love how you guys address current issues but poke fun at the same time."

Sue and her staff look forward to the new Uranus holiday cards each year, including the "special issue" card sent every December to Uranus customers. Retailers receive personal holiday greetings via one of next year's prototype Christmas cards, so they get the first laugh before the card goes into full production.

"We all wait for the holiday card you guys send out, the new one," says Sue. "That has a special spot in my office."

Twisted Everyday cards bring in customers, too

Customers come to the store looking specifically for Greetings from Uranus cards, says Sanem.

The Greetings from Uranus sales don't stop with Christmas, of course. Portage Bay Goods carries a wide selection of Uranus Everyday cards, which Sue delights in pointing out to customers.

One of her favorite Greetings from Uranus Birthday cards is "Tunnel of Long Boring Stories," with its hapless, pants-hiked-to-his-Adam's-apple old timer. "Sometimes a customer comes up to me and says 'I've looked through every card, I'm looking for my father-in-law.' I show them your 'Tunnel of Long Boring Stories' and there isn't a person who hasn't bought that card after I've shown it to them."

Sue is especially fond of the flow of laughs from a Uranus card, starting with the witty cartoon on the front, proceeding to the cleverly phrased greeting inside, and ending with a surprise - the darkly comic stream-of-consciousness tag line on the back. "I can't emphasize enough the whole tag line on the back," she says. "People buy the cards anyway, but when I point (the tag line) out to them they just love that."