Big Alligator
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
The "Gator Land" gift shop opened in 2015, selling the usual tourist t-shirts and souvenirs. What makes it unique is a glassed-in floor-to-ceiling "habitat" at the back of the shop -- the home of a pair of small, live alligators -- and the giant, grinning gator stretched over its entrance. The shop seems related to the "Shark Land" store across the highway, where customers enter through a toothy shark mouth. Pigeon Forge has historically hitched its tourist star to bears, so the alligator and shark are a bold attempt to expand the town's menu of carnivore mascots.