The strip is set in a fictional department store called "Grumbel's." Grumbel's provides a wide array of goods; customers have been shown shopping for anything from garden equipment and electronics to clothing and housewares. Given the wide variety of products available through Grumbel's it more closely resembles a Sears than other types of retail stores. However, the name Grumbel's is a parody of real life department store Gimbels, which closed in 1987. It also suggests the word "grumble."