Heart Mercantile — Local services in Dayton

I lived in Dayton my entire life- even now my parents still live in the house they brought me home in from the hospital. I’ve since moved to New York City, but have to gush about how much I love Heart. It opened when I was in high school, and it was the perfect place to wander into after class (I went to Stivers, right down the street). Us teenagers would giggle at silly glasses and Tshirts with obscenities. When I was older and worked in the OD as a server, it was a great place to do my holiday shopping between shifts. They have, and continue to be, pillars of the community: after the tornadoes, they were the first ones collection donations. After the shooting, they were helping their neighbors. During COVID even, they were the perfect example of a neighbor. I’m writing this after our presidential election, where I believe community will be the most important tool we have in the upcoming dark times. More folks in Dayton, and even here in my current city, can easily take these ladies for a perfect example. Giving five stars- Everytime I wear my “Dayton Til I Die” shirt, I get someone telling me “no way! I’m from there!” In the biggest city in the world. Daytonites are resilient, and these women are no exception. Buy all their stuff so they can operate for another decade!! I can’t wait to place my holiday order, all the way from...

Let me start this review by asking you a question: are you a sheep or a ram? It’s an easy question to answer. Sheep are those people who go with the flow and don’t challenge a lot of hard issues that may come up in their daily lives. Rams, well they go headfirst. They want to throw themselves out there and make a statement with what they have. Heart Mercantile is a store for made by Rams for Rams.

Heart gives you the tools to be the Ram within your group of friends, work colleagues, and of course your family. Not only am I a Ram after buying and using the products from Heart, but also my dog is now the ram of our block with her “Free Kisses” Bandana (see picture for ram authentication).

I haven’t even gotten to the best part yet though. The products are amazing, but what is even better is the Superhero Staff that work at Heart on a daily basis. I personally Have never had any issues with anyone from there and they have always been extremely helpful with my ram purchases. Anytime we have friends or folks coming in from out of town, Heart Mercantile is listed as one our stops on our Dayton Tour.

So let me ask you that same question again, but in a different format: What do you WANT to be? A Sheep or a Ram and how are you going...

Love this store and their social media is a total vibe. We love their unique offerings, inclusive space, and that they are a locally owned business and heavily invested in the greater Dayton area community. There are things in there I never thought to look for that have since become some of my kids favorite gifts. (Tator Tot cookbook, anyone?)

We don't make it in there often but when we do, we totally spend way too much money... That we are perfectly capable of keeping track of and calculating to know roughly what our total will be at checkout.

Also, there seems to be a review stating that states the employees and management there hold you down and force you to spend more than you're willing to spend, in some capacity. I can say that this is categorically not the case. They are a local store in a local entertainment area heavily patrolled by police. If they were holding down customers and forcing them to swipe their cards, it would make the local news, at minimim.

11/10 will ALWAYS stop in...