Columbus, Ohio USA
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Dis 'n' Data
By Margaret Marten, Editor
email margaret@shortnorth.com
May/June 2013
John Angelo is leaving his position as executive director of the Short North Alliance on June 15 after eight years. He served as executive director of the Short North Business Association beginning in 2005, later joining the Short North Special Improvement District as director in November 2011 after Tim Wagner’s retirement. The two organizations merged to become the Short North Alliance on May 1, 2012. Angelo, 50, is looking to spend more time with his family, travel and explore other opportunities. He has worked tirelessly to promote the arts district, and the effect of his hard work and creativity will continue to bear fruit in the bustling Short North for years to come. His accomplishments are too numerous to mention here. His love of glamour and fashion materialized into the spectacular HighBall Halloween event in 2008, which he plans to oversee again this year. We thank John for eight years of hard work, artful entertainment, and great hair.
The new executive director of the North Market, Rick Harrison Wolfe, is another fashionable fellow. His work experience includes more than 20 years retailing and branding of footware, clothing and hospitality industries while living in California and Illinois before returning to Columbus a few years ago – a Grandview native. Cheesy Truck is another one of his creative endeavors, which he sold a year ago. Wolfe started at the North Market on April 29, 2013, replacing David Wible who retired in January after 12 years.
Europia, the gourmet carryout at 672 N. High St., closed on March 20 afer 16 years. Olympia “Pia” Hiotis was the original owner before selling it to one of her employees, Steven Grabner a couple years ago, who true to his name, grabbed a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to sell the liquor license to Giant Eagle and take a break from the work world. Another long-time employee and former manager, Bob Corkwell, said a lot of people are very disappointed that Europia’s gone because it’s been there so long. “I miss everyone,” said Corkwell during a phone conversation. “When you’re used to entertaining and making people laugh, and then these people become your friends after ten years ... then it’s gone.” Corkwell, a musician and artist, will continue to do pet caricatures at Posh Pets during special events, perform at local music venues, and visit friends here.
Brigade, a shop selling contemporary sportsware, moved in mid-April from 607 N. High (next to the UPS Store), where it opened four years ago in 2009, to a spot further north across from z pizza. The new location at 940 N. High has a parking lot and patio area out front, which manager Larry Robertson immediately indicated as a reason for the move. He also noted that three business are under the Brigade umbrella – Repertoire sells shoes and Flat Foot Vintage (Robertson’s project) sells antiques within the apparel store. The new floor plan, unlike the former location, gives each product a separate room to display its inventory.
Columbus Barber & Beauty Supply Co. at 962 N. High plans to move out of the Short North by the end of May. The business, which began here 56 years ago, will have a sale and move into a temporary location in Hilliard. News sources indicate that the Loudenslager family, who founded the business, sold the building, and that it will undergo renovations and result in a significant rent increase better suited for some other type of business than a barbershop supply store. Kevin Lykens is the new owner in charge of the project.
An attorney and his paralegal (wife) are the proud proprietors of a new store offering health-related merchandise in the Short North. Square of Life, Nutrition, located next to King’s Rowe Gallery near the Surly Girl Saloon, opened on March 2. Owners Jay Perez, 54, and Layla, 36, believe that health-conscious living is the sure path to a good life. The “square of life” concept includes the four elements of health, wealth, love and self-expression, a philosophy expounded by the late metaphysical thinker Florence Scovell Schinn. And the Square of Life shop is focused on providing products as a means to that end. “My [legal] profession is so negative,” said Jay. “I’ve always wanted to give out positive, put out a product to the community – into society, into the world – something positive. That’s how I raised my kids, to put out positive things into the world, and that’s why we started the Square of Life.” Merchandise includes workout supplements, vitamins that you won’t find in your local GNC, natural skin care, aromatherapy products, athletic apparel, books, gift and snack items. The Perez family is big on salt products as well, everything from salt lamps to inhalers to salt baths. Native New Yorkers, the couple, who reside in Worthington with their two daughters, Haanel, 4, and Sophia, 5, have always enjoyed physical activity and healthful living. Jay practiced collegiate sports and recalls his baseball beginnings as a boy living in the slums in the projects of New York City. “We would play like stickball, and f or bases we used the top, the lids of garbage cans, and ever since I was a little boy I’ve always been into sports. I’ve excelled in high school, excelled in college. It’s just been part of my life.” Layla was raised in Upstate New York, played sports in high school, practiced track and field in college, and continues to run and work out regularly. The power rack at the back of the shop is used to give demonstrations on weight lifting. The Perez belief in positive thinking and love has been a guiding principle for them. “We want people, when they walk in – even dogs, we have natural organic bisquits for free – whether you purchase or not, we want you to feel love,” said Jay. “That’s what I ask people when they walk in here, ‘Did you feel love?’ They say ‘yes,’ so I say ‘okay, then I’ve done my job.’” Square of Life, Nutrition, 1108 N. High St., is open every day beginning at noon. For more information, call 614-725-2085 or visit www.squareoflife.com
A pair of shops opened on High Street north of Fifth and south of Smith near Luigi’s Pawn Shop. One of them, Ohio In Style at 1253 N. High, offers trade and consignment on everything from jewelry and electronics to furniture. Much of the merchandise was inventory that owner Adam Miller, 33, had been selling online before opening the store on March 22 (his birthday). “I was doing a lot of online sales, and friends and family members just started coming to me like, ‘Hey, can you sell this for me,’ or ‘I’ve got this weird thing I don’t know much about it,’ and I just loved doing the research,” said Miller. “It kind of evolved over the years and got to a point where I couldn’t do it out of the house anymore.” The online sales were actually more profitable than his day job in the sign industry where he worked for 14 years installing commercial real estate signs, so the decision to open the store once he left his day job was not difficult. “The one thing I liked most before opening up here was selling on Craig’s List because I actually got to meet and talk to people,” said Miller. “And you have that little moment of 5 to 15 minutes where you kind of get to know as much as you can about someone, get a glimpse of their life and their past and where they’re from and everything. I like that a lot more than just selling something on eBay.” Growing up in Groveport, Miller said his family was somewhat poor, and thrifty. “Everyone in my family has always looked for great deals at yard sales or unique original things.” His interest in the unusual is evident in his shop. He pointed out a circus waffle maker that creates elephant and giraffe waffles, a 12-foot inflatable Kayak, and vintage cameras. Best sellers are jewelry, knives and some “military stuff in the back.” His knife collection sold out to some 20 different people the first week the shop was open. Always intrigued by the choice of shop names, I asked Miller how he came up with “Ohio In Style” and was surprised by his response. “Actually, I looked at about 4000 different names” he said. “I even paid $79 for a book of consignment store names and they were all taken in the state of Ohio. The closest thing I could come up with was In Style, but it belonged to a company in, I believe Akron, that went out of business. They still had legal rights to the name – so, Ohio in Style. I sat there for days and days and days typing in names.” Ohio In Style can be reached at 614-515-1101. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday 11-6, and Friday through Sunday 11-8.
Bakery Gingham closed last summer after three years in the small space next to First Community Bank at 647 N. High St. The storefront, vacant for over six months, now houses a wonderful vintage shop specializing in items from the 50s, 60s and 70s. A Gal Named Cinda Lou opened on March 1. The shop originated in Westerville six years ago where it still operates. Owner Debbie Bennati, a former first-grade teacher, became a stay-at-home mom after retiring in 2005 (with her youngest finishing up high school), and realized during that one-year stint as a stay-at-home mom that withdrawing from the work world wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be. She and daughter Julie, an artist, opened the Westerville shop in 2006, tentatively at first, in a 300 sq. ft. space, then relocated to a larger storefront in historic Uptown. The catchy name, A Gal Named Cinda Lou, was Julie’s invention, named after her great grandmother (Debbie’s grandmother). Prior to opening in the Short North, the family found themselves overstaffed in the Westerville store when Debbie’s husband Jim left the corporate world and began helping them out after recovering from back surgery in 2011. The family decided to move some inventory to a booth at Heritage Square Antique Mall on Brice Road, later opening a store branch in the Ohio State University district next to Bernie’s but were less than impressed with the student turnout there, particularly during the holiday season. “Christmas is usually the best time for a store,” said Debbie. “We didn’t even make rent that month.” After participating in the Columbus Museum of Art 20th Century Design Marketplace last fall, the Bennatis realized that downtown and the Short North were the areas where customers would appreciate the name brand furniture they carry. “The famous ones that you see on Mad Men and TV shows are the pieces we’ve taken to the Short North,” Debbie said. The store sells a variety of merchandise: jewelry, clothing, retro houseware, furniture, records, and handmade items. The Westerville store has an entire room full of records, but the Short North can only hold a sampling, said Debbie. The same with clothes, but they’re premium, as is the furniture. “I’ve had people from New York City in my Westerville store pulling and buying stuff because they want to copy the patterns, but also the graphics on it,” she said. “A lot of them back in the ‘70s were wild and crazy, pictures on them. They call them graphics now. I only know that because my daughter’s a graphic artist.” Julie (also Julia), who manages the Short North store, specializes in paintings of dogs that are fun and cartoony. Her sister Jaime, also an artist, exhibited her Brazilian-themed work at ROY G BIV in April. A brother who lives in Los Angeles is in music production. The parents of these creative kids will be celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary in August. A Gal Named Cinda Lou is open Wednesday through Sunday. Call 614-599-0308 or visit www.cindalou.org and Cinda Lou Shop Facebook to learn more.
Impero Coffee opened in 2009 at 849 N. High St. in the Dakota Building after Cuppy’s Coffee closed and has been doing so well, especially the past couple years, that they decided to expand their floor space recently by knocking out a wall to an adjacent office. Owners Matthew Sontag, 31, and wife Lucinda, 33, were waiting for the opportunity to acquire the space and began negotiations as soon as Robby Stephens notified them he was moving his insurance agency in February. The new sitting room, which includes two leather sofas, an oversized chair and five tables, opened in mid-March. New bar seating and a counter were installed in the front retail area after a bakery case was removed, and more tables and chairs were added to that area. “People would walk in, look around, and leave and not even come up and order anything because we’re too full,” said Matthew about the former conditions. With the expansion comes a weekend brunch menu and events. Impero Coffee, located at 849 N. High, is open 7 days: until 8 p.m Monday - Friday; 10 p.m. on Saturday, and 7 p.m. on Sunday. Call 614-294-2489 or visit www.imperocoffee.com.
William C. (Bill) Kiener Jr., Mr. Doo Dah, died of a heart attack on May 3. He was 68. Bill co-founded the Doo Dah parade in 1983. He is survived by his wife, Dianne, and two children. A celebration of his life will be announced later on the Doo Dah website at www.doodahparade.com. Lori McCargish Erp, who directed the ACME Art Co., died from a gunshot wound last March in Oregon where she lived with her husband who was hospitalized after the incident. According to her brother, quoted in The Oregonian, they were having financial problems and it may have been a suicide pact gone wrong.Email margaret@shortnorth.com or call 614-251-0656 with neighborhood news items for the Short North Gazette.
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