The 30-year-old owner and designer of Ohio is Home has moved his store to 43 S. Court St. and will start selling official Ohio University apparel by early Fall Semester.
Tim Martin moved his 300-square-foot store on 94 Columbus Road to the 1,800-square-foot store on Court Street by the end of spring break. He plans to change the inventory, remodel, and revamp the 5-year-old apparel and accessories business.
“I’ll have a lot that I’ll need to fill in there eventually,” Martin said. “It’ll be a little bit of everything Ohio-made — a lot of our stuff, but then also other Ohio-made things from vendors in Athens and abroad.”
Martin looked for a big location for a year since he wanted to have a bigger inventory, said Larry Fisher, executive director of ACEnet. Fisher said he helped Martin look for a location uptown so he could fulfil his dream of selling Bobcat gear uptown.
Martin said he hopes to have the grand opening of the store by the end of summer. After the store opens, he will need to sell at least 400 to 500 T-shirts to stay out of debt.
Martin said what sets him apart from other businesses is his ability to utilize local vendors, such as Precision Imprint, for printing the designs on T-shirts. He wants to target millennials who are attracted to locally made and crafted T-shirts.
“Right now, our main client base has been locals and middle-age adults because we haven’t really hit the student market,” Martin said. “The quality of our products and the difference of our products will just automatically attract students and adults”
He said he wants to sell a little bit of everything, such as Ohio- and Athens-based food from Crumbs Bakery and Sweet Arts Bakery & Cafe, as well as ceramics and candles. Additionally, he will be selling wooden products made from his woodshop in Nelsonville.
Martin has already hired a manager and will soon hire part-time and full-time employees to help him out in the store.
Gene Armes, partner at College Bookstore, one of the leading stores in Athens to sell Ohio University apparel, welcomed Martin and wished him good luck with his store.
