Best of the City 2022: Best Reignition

Jenks building

Don’t be fooled by the Shriber Auto Parts & Machine Shop sign on the Jenks Building. That Cuyahoga Falls business is closed, but inside is a maze: a coffee shop, a market, an outdoor gear and bait shop, three vintage businesses, three art galleries and two performance spaces. They may seem disparate, but each fits.

“The whole thing works in sort of this synergy. People are … all chasing their passions,” says Michael Owen, who owns it with his wife, Jodie Oates-Owen.

They planned to make it a store, but the pandemic shaped it into an artistic hub that opened in late 2020.

“People didn’t have another place to go — photographers and singers,” he says. “It became a community that grew.”

It hosts intimate concerts Thursday through Saturday in its gritty machine shop venue and upstairs listening room that’s  a former dance hall.

Uncover what Owen calls “an adventure in every corner,” including a basement wine cellar, where you can use a flashlight to select any bottle for $50 (some are worth $200).

It’s Owen’s creative playground, and he’s working to help add nearby bike racks to make it a front porch to the city.

“Urban recycling is important,” Owen says. “It can … take your community to places that it couldn’t even imagine.” 

1884 Front St., Cuyahoga Falls, jenks1929.com