The 530 Shop Makes the New York Times

Here's a link to an article about Lorain that appeared in both the print and online version of the New York Times in early January. The article is entitled, "A Dimly Flickering Light in a Darkened Downtown," and it is a look at The 530 Shop against the backdrop of Lorain's depressed economy. It's extremely well-written (although painful to read) and it includes several quotes by Art Oehlke, owner of the 530 Shop.

Several people have emailed me this link in the past few weeks, so I thought I would share it with those of you who might have missed it.

I hadn't been in the store since last summer, so I stopped in this past weekend to browse and ask Mr. Oehlke how he and his store ended up in the New York Times. After good-naturedly kidding me about not having been there in a while, he explained to me that the writer (Sabrina Tavernise) had been in the area for some event and stopped in at his store. She had asked him why the downtown seemed like a ghost town, and after he told her about Lorain, she must have seen the rich story potential.

One of my recent purchases at The 530 Shop

I learned from the article that Mr. Oehlke's grandfather constructed the building that houses The 530 Shop.

At the library a few days ago, I decided to see how many different businesses had been at the 530 Broadway address. The 1926 city directory listed Horn Brothers Meats as the tenant. From 1929 through about 1937, Henry Oehlke had a clothing store there.

Richman Brothers operated a store there from 1940 through at least 1942. Jumping ahead to the next available book (1947), I found Clear Sylk (a hosiery store) as the tenant until about the mid-1950's. After that, Betty Gay (a women's clothing store) was at that location until the store space went vacant around the early 1960's.

And beginning around the mid-1960's, The 530 Shop has called the storefront home.

It's fun stopping in there every once in a while. I've found some great local maps, as well as some fun knick-knacks. Mr. Oehlke always has some great vintage music blaring to put you in the mood to shop for antiques, as well as to evoke memories of the heyday of Downtown Lorain.

So be sure to stop in and buy something! The 530 Shop is open seven days a week.