This is the man, the myth, the legend himself.  Kevin Smith.  Yeah, he looks kinda perturbed.  When I whipped out my camera he questioned me, making sure I didn't take any pictures of the Dogma-related items about the store.  So I finally get to meet a legend in my book, and he's accusing me of betraying his trust.  Bah.  That's why you can see the tears welling up in the corner of my eyes.  Besides, the Dogma stuff wouldn't give that much away.

That fateful day, we were standing outside of Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash waiting to be let in when a guy dressed in a simple jacket stepped out.  He lit a cig, signed an autograph, and walked down the street calmly, the hundred fans standing on the sidewalk left as quiet as Silent Bob himself.  Later on, in the store, he was around to meet and greet.  Was a truly wonderful day.

This is the Clerks counter.  Yes, THE Clerks counter.  'Why does it look so different then?'  Well, think about it, some savage stuck some gun in the lock so the shutters weren't opened all day.  Hence, the window was virtually a wall.  This was probably my favorite part of the day.  On the bus ride through various locations used in Clerks and Chasing Amy, Brian aka Dante added various commentary about the filming locations, the movies, and life in general.  He even did a tired Krusty the Clown imitation, which was hilarious.  The screens on the bus were showing Clerks, so he was able to point out little behind the scenes tidbits throughout the tour.  Out of all that I heard and saw that day, nothing shocked me as much as the sheer size of the stores used in Clerks.  We're talking coffins.  Most singles at Drew feel less cramped, even during a party.

Brian is just as witty and sarcastic as his character.  He dealt with unruly fans easily, dispatching them with a quick verbal riposte.

More photographs from the event added below!

Yes, I finally dug them out of my laptop!

Ok, so this isn't the clearest of photographs. You should see my landscapes some day.

Seriously, this is the tour bus that they took us lucky fans around in for a tour of the locations. Here we see Brian being witty, knowing he has a long day ahead of him. Jay was stretched out on the seat in front of him at this point.

Another shot of Brian. This one is in the store itself. I can't imagine what it would be like to work in this store. There you are, working in a backwater simple convenience store, when one day a busload of freaks come in every hour.

The employees were very good natured, they're probably used to us nutty fans.

Yes, Brian is standing on the freezer right now. As he spoke, I noticed a jar of shoe polish next to me. If I didn't want to save every last cent of mine for gear at their store, I would have picked it up.

Here's an exterior view of the Quick Stop. Hasn't changed much since the movie was filmed. Though the 'I eat cock' word balloon is gone. Actually, they don't know what happened to it.

Notice how small the roof is. There's a damn good reason most of the action took place off camera.

Here's the RST Video store just next to the Quick Stop.

VHS and Nintendo - I wonder how old that sign is.

This is inside the video store. It is a small coffin, lined with VHS boxes. Right next to the counter is a simple doorway, leading to the adult section. Brian mentioned that most of their profit comes from this closet, and friends of mine who have worked at other video stores say this is most often the case.

They keep the box for Navy Seals by the register, so people can pose with it.

Here's a close up of the sign on the inside of the door to the porn closet. I cannot call it a room. The store itself is not even a full-fledged room.

According to Brian, Kevin made this sign back when he worked there.

Recognize that music store? If you've seen Chasing Amy, you should. That's the store that Hooper LaMont and Holden McNeil discuss relationships in. The stairwell right next to Jack's is where Banky Edwards and Holden McNeil talk after Banky walked in on Holden half-naked with Alyssa Jones. They contemplate life, love, catholic school girls, and then life goes on.

This also happens to be just about directly across the street from the View Askew store.

Speaking of the store...

This photograph was taken from the stairwell above, as you can see by the location of the silver car in the prior shot. Notice the line of fans in front of the store. Notice the locals confused as to what the hell was going on. Notice the awesome giant logo over the Secret Stash.