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Kevin Smith

New ARKHOUSE Co. Store to Open in Troy

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ARKHOUSE Co., a quintessential small-town mercantile with modern flair, will open Saturday, Feb. 8, at 233 South Market Street in Troy. The new store will sell home goods, jewelry and accessories with uplifting, Christian messages. Beautiful gift wrap and stationery products will give shoppers a one-stop place to create a meaningful gift.

 

Owners Kevin and Jennifer Smith first opened the ARKHOUSE doors to customers as part of Ark & Echo, a collaborative storefront housing two businesses. The community has been tremendous supporters of ARKHOUSE since the store’s opening four years ago, and as the business has grown, the Smiths believe the time is right to open a storefront exclusively for ARKHOUSE Co.

 

“We have received amazing support from the local community at ArkHOUSE, and we are excited to invest in Troy again with this new stand-alone store,” said Kevin Smith, co-owner of ArkHOUSE Co. “There is so much growth in downtown Troy and along Market Street, and we are proud to be part of that in a new, bigger way while offering customers many of the same brands and products they’ve come to love.”

The new store will reflect Kevin and Jennifer’s classic American style in a space twice the size of the current location. ARKHOUSE Co. will collaborate with local makers and artists whenever possible, while also continuing to carry exclusive items like ARKHOUSE Co. candles and the MUDPIE Collection of home goods.

 

Kevin has designed the new retail space – which formerly housed United Way of Miami County – to embrace historic details like beautiful wooden floors uncovered during renovations. He’s complemented them with new elements like custom wood trim, moldings and furnishings that create a charming and modern experience for customers.

 

The Smith’s husband-and-wife team has a successful business history in Troy as the creators of the original branding and retail space design of Ark & Echo. Kevin and Jennifer also introduced the store’s popular Acts of Random Kindness (ARKs) program, where patrons received a discount for a “scout’s honor” pledge to spread ARKs to others.

 

“We’ve always known we wanted our business to help share kindness in the community,” said co-owner Jennifer Smith. “Our tagline is ‘In this house, we do kindness.’ It’s important to us that kindness is central to our business, and we’re excited to expand that belief and practice at the new store.”

Arkhouse Company

(937) 214-1788

233 South Market Street
Troy, OH 45373

Tuesday- Friday 10am – 6pm
Saturday 10am – 4pm

Kevin Smith vs Hollywood – Springfield, Ohio is a battlefield…

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Kevin Smith, the director of the 1994 cult-hit Clerks as well as several follow-up films such as Mall Rats, Dogma, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back and Chasing Amy (as well as playing Silent Bob in many of those same films) has made a new movie.  Titled Red State, this horror/thriller is about a group of sex-crazed teens who encounter a gay-hating minister and his group of fundamentalists with a sinister agenda.

While this genre is a bit of a departure from Smith’s prior efforts, his method of marketing and distribution for the film harkens back to his Clerks days when he sold his comic book collection and maxed out credit cards in order to achieve independent film maker status.  This time around, he is completely bypassing the Hollywood machine – instead choosing to use his fan base through social media to release the film, as well as a fifteen-city screening tour that will make a stop at Kuss Auditorium at the Clark State Performing Arts Center on March 14th.

Smith plans to work directly with movie theater owners in order to get the movie on screen by the targeted October 19, 2011 date, a plan he unveiled at the film’s Sundance Film Festival premiere this past Sunday where he had originally indicated he’d be auctioning the film to a distributor live on the stage.  Instead, he “bought” the film himself for $20 and gave the proverbial middle finger to Hollywood.  As an added twist, the film is supposedly based on the Christian fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church, infamous for picketing soldiers’ funerals with “God Hates Fags” signs.  That group predictably protested the premiere and will likely be in Springfield in March for the screening.

Tickets to the local screening go on sale for $67 this Friday at 10am in person at the Clark State Performing Arts Center, with online tickets available that same day at noon.