Tucked away behind the bright lights and towering buildings on the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Mill Avenue lies one of the last original stores on Tempe’s Mill Avenue strip — The Graffiti Shop.
Phoenix resident Lawrence Owenby, 44, opened the smoke shop that sells tobacco and other smoking paraphernalia 23 years ago after he dropped out of college and was tired of working for other people.
Owenby recalled the common response he heard from his various employers: “You’re weird, you’re fired, get out.” That is when The Graffiti Shop was born.
“If you want to find out who you really are, not the venire that you can see in the mirror when you comb your hair or shave your face or brush your teeth, but really who you are on the inside — start your own business,” Owenby said.
Owenby does everything himself, from melting glass in his own warehouse to blowing glass into magnificent shapes and colors to form glass pipes.
The most expensive pieces in his shop are 2-foot-long glass pipes that range anywhere from $350 to $500. The most expensive piece he ever sold was an 8-foot water pipe with nine percolators, the mouthpieces used to breathe in the smoke, which cost $1,000.
“And I sold it to a guy who lived in a trailer in Buckeye, and that is the truth,” Owenby said.
In The Graffiti Shop, graffiti in the store is not only allowed, it is encouraged. Shop visitors can graffiti the walls and floors with spray paint, marker or whatever the artist wishes to use. Some write their names, while others write their favorite quotes or sayings.
Whether someone is a loyal customer or just passing by, Owenby said self-expression despite differences is part of the reason he started the shop.
Owenby said that since the economic recession ended, his business has been doing as well as it did five years ago.
“I’ve done better than most of my fellow Mill Avenue merchants,” Owenby said. “Now, I am running roughly parallel to how I was doing in 2005 and 2006.”
Last year’s numbers compared to this year’s consisted of a 1.8 percent drop in revenue for The Graffiti Shop, a small amount of money to lose in comparison to other businesses, Owenby said.
He said the reason his business did better than others was because he has a product that people break regularly and have to re-buy because many of his products are made from glass.
Nancy Hormann, executive director of the Downtown Tempe Community, is in charge of providing an enhanced service that goes above and beyond what the city can do in regard to marketing businesses and services for the district and maintaining its image.
“People always seem to think if a shop goes out of business in the shopping center it is always the business’ fault,” Hormann said. “But it’s always downtown’s [Tempe Community] fault.”
Hormann said the problem was not so much because the economy was bad, but as a result of bad business plans and under capitalization.
In an effort to continue growth and revitalization within the district, a new Mill Avenue marketing campaign was launched.
The Generation Mill project was started as a means to include and inform all age groups there is something on Mill Avenue for everyone. Hormann described the breakdown of three different time zones, including the working crowd from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., tourists from 5 to 9 p.m., and nightlife from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
“We are not just a college town; we are a tourist generation,” Hormann said. “You can come down here without deciding where to go until you get there.”
After a year of frequently visiting the business, 18-year-old Michaela Burger of Mesa described The Graffiti shop as more than just a smoke shop, but a second home.
“It’s a very homey place to be; Lawrence takes care of everyone that goes in there,” Burger said. Amanda Moeling, 24, from Chicago, was visiting The Graffiti Shop for the first time and she said it was nothing like she had seen before.
“It amazes me that someone would have the idea to get up and just start spray painting all over the walls,” Moeling said. “It adds so much creativity and spunk without spending a dime on designer paint.”
Apart from The Graffiti Shop, other Mill Avenue businesses that have been rooted on the strip since the opening of the very first shops are Hippie Gypsy, 13 years, Trails, 32 years, Lotions and Potions, 36 years, Monti’s Steakhouse, 54 years, and Harkins Valley Art, which will be celebrating its 70th anniversary at the end of the month.
More than two decades have passed since Owenby opened his unique shop in one of the highest traffic areas in Tempe. Even after the struggles of owning one’s own business and constant battle with the fluctuating economy, it looks as though The Graffiti Shop is here to stay.
Reach the reporter at mcberbli@asu.edu
