Shopping LOCAL in Dayton: hats, dollar books and a market turning 25

Dayton's independent shops are spread out rather than lined up on one main street. A hat shop sits among the brick row buildings of the Oregon District, a stationery and home goods shop anchors a corner in Huffman, a bookstore off Ludlow Street sells everything for a dollar, and the last piece of the downtown Arcade to be restored has opened with a row of small local storefronts. Tie them together with the 2nd Street Market and the monthly First Friday walk, and you have a shopping map that rewards anyone willing to park once and wander.

Downtown and the North Arcade

The biggest change for local shopping downtown this year is the Dayton Arcade. In February the Downtown Dayton Partnership announced that the North Arcade's retailers were ready to open, with a grand opening on the March First Friday and a public day in the Arcade Commons the next morning, and the marketplace duly opened on Friday, March 6. Its entrance is on West Third Street.

Pink Moon Goods, Too is the Arcade outpost of a Huffman shop. It keeps to light, flat things, many from Japan: stationery, greeting cards, art prints, small gifts and snacks, alongside local finds such as Riley Street Merchants linens and Sugarcamp bandanas. Online orders can be picked up there too. A few doors along, Luke's Custom Cakes runs a grab-and-go counter of seasonal cupcakes, cookies, brownies and ready-made cakes; its custom and wedding orders are handled at its flagship in Hamilton.

A short walk north, Rabbit Hole Books on West First Street is the year-round shop of the Dayton Book Fair, the volunteer-run charity sale that raises money for local nonprofits. Every book in the store costs a dollar, it is open every afternoon and evening, and it marked its third anniversary in February. Browsing here doubles as a donation to the year's chosen causes.

On East Third Street in the Fire Blocks District, Now and Zen DIY Studio turns shopping into a project. Walk up to its terrarium bar and build your own, join a themed Saturday workshop, or take home a kit, a zen garden, crystals or a potted plant. It opens Thursday through Sunday.

The Oregon District and Huffman

East Fifth Street through the Oregon District is best known for restaurants and bars, but it keeps some committed retail. Brim on Fifth fits Daytonians for hats of every shape: fedoras and pork pies, newsboys and flat caps, cloches and fascinators, plus bags, jewelry, scarves and a hat bar. The team of five, and a shop dog named Guinness, will set up a portable ramp for wheelchair users on request, and the shop has a trunk show planned for the afternoon of Saturday, November 21.

When you have shopped yourself hungry, Wheat Penny Oven and Bar sits around the corner on Wayne Avenue, a restaurant built around pizza with wine and beer to match.

Follow Fifth Street east past the Oregon District to the Historic Huffman neighborhood, where Pink Moon Goods has its main shop. It curates practical, well-made goods from independent makers: stationery and cards, kitchen linens and tools, candles, mending supplies, garden tools and seeds, toys and craft supplies for children, and a deep shelf of Japanese household goods. The shop hosts mini markets, artist receptions for its small in-house gallery and a yearly Kid's Market for young entrepreneurs.

The 2nd Street Market at 25

If one place sums up shopping local in Dayton, it is the 2nd Street Market, run by Five Rivers MetroParks in a 1911 railroad freight house on East Second Street. The market started as a handful of farmers at what is now Wegerzyn Gardens and moved into its downtown home in 2001; it is celebrating 25 years there this season. More than 50 small businesses sell year-round, Friday through Sunday: growers with meat, produce, mushrooms, honey and eggs; bakers and chocolatiers; cooks with lunch; and artisans with pottery, jewelry, candles and flowers. SNAP users can exchange benefits for tokens at more than 20 vendors.

Peace on Fifth is one of the stalls worth seeking out. Run by volunteers since 2011, it sells chocolate from traceable farms and makers and puts its proceeds toward anti-trafficking work, and it holds chocolate classes and meet-the-maker evenings.

The anniversary season brings extra dates. The Global Artisan Market on Sunday, November 22, gathers artisans who came to Dayton from countries including India, Sudan, Japan, Colombia and Nigeria, selling jewelry, crafts and baked goods. Stock Up Wednesday on November 25 opens the market on an extra day before Thanksgiving. On Thursday, December 10, Holiday Magic keeps the market open into the evening on the middle night of Holly Days at the Arcade, which runs December 9 to 11, with a free RTA shuttle running between the two and the Oregon District garage that evening.

First Friday and the holiday season

On the first Friday of every month, downtown's galleries, shops and restaurants stay open from 5 to 10 p.m. for First Friday, a free evening of exhibit openings, street performers, live music and shopping specials. December's edition, on the 4th, coincides with the Grande Illumination on Courthouse Square, when the North Arcade shops stay open into the evening. Through December, participating downtown businesses hide elves in their windows for a hunt with a Downtown Dollars prize.

Downtown Dollars is also the simplest way to give a local gift. The Downtown Dayton Partnership's digital gift card can be spent at more than 70 downtown merchants, and the partnership describes it plainly as a way to keep money with the businesses that make downtown worth visiting.

That is the case for shopping local here in a sentence. The hat shop, the dollar bookstore and the chocolate stall are run by people who live in Dayton, and every Saturday you spend with them helps keep their doors open for the next one.