Several people have suggested I post about Heart Mercantile because they’ve done so many good things for Dayton, so I stopped by recently and met Kait. I asked her how long the business has been in operation.

“Brittany Smith started the business in 2015” she told me. “It wasn’t in this location but it’s always been in the Oregon District. That’s worked out well for us. People visit the area often so there are always folks walking by. People also bring out of town guests to the Oregon District, because it’s one of the areas that make our city special. While they are here they can stop in for a souvenir of their visit to Dayton.”

I see that many of your products relate to Dayton. “Our shop offers a wide variety of gifts, but we specialize in items that relate to Dayton. We say we’re Dayton-centric. All of the Dayton themed items are designed by us and to the extent possible they’re also made in Dayton.”

A lot has happened during your 10 years of operation – the day 14 tornadoes hit the city, the mass shooting on this street, the pandemic. I understand your business has done a lot to help people through those troubles.

“That’s something we’re passionate about. We try to give back as much as we can, and we have a donation center to make it easy for others to support the causes we care about. You mentioned the Oregon District shootings. Just two days after that terrible event we designed a new shirt to honor the vic

tims and the #DaytonStrong movement and donated all of the profits to a fund created by the Dayton Foundation.”

Is anything happening soon that you’d like to mention?

“Derby Day will be here soon, with a fashion show and wiener dog races. That’s always fun. And we do monthly block parties. The Oregon District is a great part of Dayton and we try to contribute in our own way to keeping the area interesting. “