While recent years have shown that daily newspaper readership has gone down across the country, we stongly encourage you to check out today’s Akron Beacon Journal. The front page, big article is all about our sister store, Made in Akron! It’s up on www.ohio.com (if you prefer to get your news via web) as well, but here it is for your enjoyment:
Elizabeth Tyran, general manager of the Made in Akron Store in Highland Square, explains the idea behind the Akroncentric store.(Mike Cardew/Akron Beacon Journal)
What do these things all have in common?
Marinara sauce from DeVitis Italian Market & Deli.
Russ’s Art Drawers — novelty underwear with stitched-on cutouts such as floppy discs and guitars by local artist Russ Gantzer.
An inflatable Goodyear blimp.
Salted in-shell peanuts from The Peanut Shoppe.
Plywood art with one-of-a-kind stenciled spray-paint artwork by Jason Scala.
A T-shirt that has a large state Route 8 sign on it by Rubber City Clothing.
They’re all among items featured in the Highland Square store Made in Akron, which focuses on selling food, merchandise and artwork that is either made in or designed in Akron and/or represents Akron.
The store at 16 S. Highland Ave. opened in April. The community has embraced the store’s concept, General Manager Elizabeth Tyran said.
”We’re all about promoting local art and local business in one store,” she said.
”You could say everything in here is like a finger pointing to an area of Akron.”
Made in Akron is a sister store to Rubber City Clothing at 18 N. High St. downtown. The clothing retailer also has a small area of Made in Akron items.
Both stores are owned by Ed Gaffney Jr., a Wadsworth native who spent some of his childhood in Akron, Singapore and London. Gaffney, 40, returned to Akron from New York in 2002 after the unexpected death of his father, Edward Gaffney Sr. The younger Gaffney came home to help his mother run local company Air Enterprises. The company that makes high-performance custom air-handling systems eventually went bankrupt and has since rebounded under new investors.
Gaffney decided to stay in town and bought Rubber City Clothing in 2006. He’s lived in a downtown loft for the last four years and said, ”Akron is one of these unique cities that has the attributes of a big city, but acts like a small town.”
Akron VIPs
Gaffney said he’s been able to work with Akronites like rocker Chrissie Hynde and Cavaliers star LeBron James (who has worn Rubber City T-shirts) to promote Akron.
”It takes people like me as an entrepreneur to invest their time and money and not leave the area, but buckle down and give the passion and the chutzpah to make it grow,” he said.
The store is working on a Web site to sell the merchandise and hopes to expand to Akron-themed gift baskets — such as a basket of local foods and an Akron Aeros baseball — in time for the holidays, he said.
The store is named after what started as a Rubber City Clothing onesie for babies with ”Made in Akron,” which has expanded to T-shirts, Gaffney said.
Highland Square is the perfect neighborhood for the store, with its foot traffic and uniqueness, said Gaffney and Tyran.
”I get all sorts in here, people from all different areas. They trek around and wander into the store,” said Tyran, the store’s sole employee, though she gets a lot of help from a volunteer.
Tyran said she’s adding new lines and products weekly. The store is also exploring getting additional licenses in order to sell refrigerated or frozen-food items and locally brewed beer and wine.
”We break down the barriers of competition,” said Tyran, 31, an art history graduate from the University of Akron who worked as the interim store manager of the Akron Art Museum before her next-door neighbor, Gaffney, literally knocked on her door earlier this year to ask if she’d like to help him with his new concept.
At the store, Rubber City Clothing T-shirts are sold on the same rack as other local T-shirt companies such as 10xYourCity.com, aptly named after one of the owners was stuck in traffic under the Interstate 77 and White Pond Drive bridge, which has the word ”Akron” listed 10 times.
Locally roasted Diana brand coffee from the Pearl Coffee Co. is on the shelf next to coffee from the Nervous Dog Coffee Bar.
And on the next shelf over are souvenirs from Akron mainstays such as Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, the Soap Box Derby and the Akron Art Museum.
Art and jewelry
There’s also plenty of locally made jewelry and art. Some are from established artists and others are just breaking into the business.
Lauren M. Wooley, who lives in Highland Square, had just lost her job and started focusing on her mosaic artwork when she walked into the store shortly after it opened.
”It’s fantastic, especially because it’s in my community. I’m trying to establish myself as a local artist,” said Wooley, who has sold several sets of her mosaic coasters and wall mirrors.
Some of the items in the store are purchased at a wholesale rate and marked up appropriately. All artwork is sold by consignment with artists earning the same percentage. Tyran said nothing retails for more than $200 to keep items in the store affordable, though customers could always contact artists to purchase more expensive pieces (business cards abound in the store).
Scala, the plywood stencil artist, said he’s been mostly selling his artwork at his downtown Akron gallery, Urban Kanvas.
”It’s great to have a place where everybody can get together and where stuff is selling,” said Scala, 29, who has sold four to five of his plywood art pieces for $200. A file cabinet with Scala’s stenciled art is also available in the store.
John Straub, one of the owners of 10xYourCity.com, said his company wanted to build off Rubber City Clothing and the popularity of local celebrities such as rockers Hynde of the Pretenders and the Black Keys.
”We’re on the rougher side with a little more attitude to our stuff,” Straub said of the company’s T-shirts, buttons and stickers, some of which are Akron-themed and others feature pop-culture references. A new T-shirt from the company at the store is a ”Shabron” shirt, playing off Cavaliers’ players Shaquille O’Neal and James.
One artist not represented at the store is Akron artist Don Drumm of Don Drumm Studios & Gallery in downtown Akron.
But Drumm said he’s all for the store and its concept. Drumm said he tries to keep a 30-mile radius between galleries that offer his art around the country.
”God bless them, I hope they do very well,” he said.
Hynde likes idea
Hynde, who owns the VegiTerranean restaurant at the Northside Lofts and who owns a loft there, stopped by Made in Akron about three weeks ago. The store carries T-shirts for VegiTerranean and the Pretenders as well as the latest CD, belt buckles and stickers for the band.
The store is part of the drive to re-engage the city, said Hynde, who spoke by phone from a Pretenders tour stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
”I just went to a mall today and it’s just so soul-destroying to wander through a mall and listen to the Muzak,” Hynde said. ”What happened to local produce and regional concerns? This is a gathering of all of those things from pottery to spaghetti sauce. This is a really essential thing that Akron needs.”
Hynde said she hopes the store does well and can expand downtown and encourage other local businesses to open downtown.
”We’ll be able to walk from Northside Lofts to Exchange Street and get everything you need. People will be wanting to be back in Akron,” she said.
Gaffney said he’s already thinking about expanding to another location downtown.
Akron Acting Economic Development Director Adele Roth said a store that promotes Akron is great for the city.
”The fact that they think enough about Akron [and] that it’s cool to have stuff in Akron says we have cool stuff made here,” she said. ”It’s great for other businesses to have that sort of cheerleader.”
Meet the Artists
A ‘‘Meet the Artists of Made in Akron’’ event will be held Saturday outside the store at 16 S. Highland Ave., Akron.
About 20 artists will be on hand with merchandise. The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. In case of rain, it will be Sunday, and if it rains the whole weekend, it will be held the following Saturday.
Regular store hours are 11a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The store phone is 330-535-4774.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@ thebeaconjournal.com.
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