Hue House now open
Hue House, a new art supply store, is now open in downtown Dayton’s St. Anne’s Hill historic neighborhood. When McCallister’s Art Supplies on Salem Avenue closed a few years ago, it was a real blow to Dayton’s art community. Losing the convenience of having supplies close to downtown made creating art more difficult for working artists, from photographers to painters, to set designers and sculptors. A year ago, Dana and Ryan Vingris found a retail space that was being developed in St. Anne’s, owned by Karin Gudal of the Gem City Catfe. Karin was excited to work with the couple to make their Dayton dream a reality. The goal was to have the space ready to launch by summer 2020, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “Overall we were very fortunate that progress was only delayed by a few weeks on the build-out due to the shutdown,” Ryan said. “We have had some delays in getting products and displays, but all in all we managed to pull it off.” The store is painted in a vibrant blue color, prominently placed at 1509 E. 5th St., just past Stivers School for the Arts. For those who want to shop at the new store, you will have to make appointments to shop due to COVID-19. This is hopefully a temporary arrangement to ensure shopper and staff safety. Appointments can be made on the store’s website (www.huehousedayton.com), which offers 30-minute private shopping sessions in the store. A maximum of two people will be allowed in the store at a time, masks will be required, and they will only be accepting credit, debit, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, at this time. Early this fall, the store plans to launch an online store as well, which will offer the ability to order and purchase supplies online for curbside pickup at the store.