If you want to stop in What the Rock?! to get your holiday gifts and the like with an in-person experience, you will have until December 24th to shop in-store. After this holiday season, owners Mike Renner and Heather Ziegler will be closing their storefront permanently and moving to online sales via Etsy, with the possibility of festival pop up shops.
“It’s bittersweet for sure,” said Renner in a post on Facebook about the decision to close the storefront. “We had a pretty good run,” added Ziegler.
The couple had moved their store to 3039 Indianola Avenue in Clintonville in January of this year after having the shop in the Short North since 2007. As of publishing, there are no plans for future locations for the store.
“Our brick & mortar sales just aren’t good enough for us to justify maintaining a physical location,” says Renner.
They do plan to continue the Killer Craft Show, which celebrated five years in October.
“We have every intention to bring Columbus creepy arts and crafts again next year!” says Renner. “And we have already committed to another Skeletonia Bike Ride at Green Lawn Cemetery on Sunday October 21, 2018.”
Ken Eppstein, owner of Nix Comics, had a popup shop inside of What the Rock?! and has already refocused his merchandise to online availability.
“I’m super sad to see WTR move on, but fortunately the closing doesn’t mean much in the way of changes for Nix Comics,” said Eppstein. “I will continue to sell records, books and art to help fund future issues of Nix Comics but now I’ll focus on events like comics and record shows and beef up my mail order site.
Eppstein said he would consider another retail space but that he has no immediate plans.
“The biggest appeal of What The Rock?! was working with my friends,” he said. “[To open another storefront] it would have to be a situation with similar happy chemistry.”
Nix Comics can still be found at Lost Weekend Records and other stores.
Final special event dates at What the Rock?! are:
Dec 02 Combat Rock: Punk Portraits by Rob Jones @ WTR?!
Dec 08 Festivus 2017 @ 400 West Rich
Dec 09 Festivus 2017 @ 400 West Rich
Dec 10 Festivus 2017 @ 400 West Rich
Dec 15 3Speed Sleigh @ WTR?!
Dec 24 XMAS EVE FINALE! @ WTR?!
For more information, visit whattherock.com. Shop their Etsy store.