March 2, 2006

During his 35 years in business, Ed Oxley has traveled the world searching for new products to sell in his store, Earth Rose.

By Diane Chiddister

Three and a half decades ago there was only one place in town to buy Indian-print bedspreads, incense and scented candles. That place was the Earth Rose, and its owner, Ed Oxley, now holds the distinction of owning the longest-running downtown business in the same location with the same owner.

“One by one the others left until it got down to Wilbur Deaton and Joe Holly and me,” Oxley said in an interview this week. “Then they retired and that leaves me.”

In his 35th year of business, Oxley has no plans to retire. His store has brought him an interesting life, with travels to exotic places and friends from all continents, he said. And he enjoys what he has always enjoyed about his job: being self-employed, offering quality handmade items from other cultures, and getting to know the diverse people who come through his store.

“Over the years I’ve had so much fun meeting so many people,” he said. “I’ve had good conversations with people ranging from bikers to CEOs.”

Earth Rose, with its bounty of imported clothing and bags, Tiffany lamps and Birkenstock sandals, has always drawn a wide variety of shoppers, Oxley said, recalling the time that he stood in his shop and overheard conversations in five different languages, none of them English.

Many things have changed since August 1970, when Oxley opened his store. Only 23 at the time, he had spent several months traveling in Europe and had developed “a taste for handmade goods,” he said, the kinds of products he wanted to sell at Earth Rose. Having become radicalized by the Vietnam War and later by the Kent State shootings, Oxley, a native of Troy, said he moved to Yellow Springs because he felt more in step here with villagers’ political beliefs.

“I liked the way people thought here, that they stood up for what they believed in,” he said.

In 1970, Oxley paid $150 a month to rent his Xenia Avenue location, and that included extra rooms in the back where he lived for a time, although his dwelling was always cold, he said. But it was a good life for a young man, with midnight movies at Antioch attended by both students and community members, and the inexpensive Glen Cafe next door, a cafeteria where he would push his silver tray down the line and, he said, “someone would sling mashed potatoes and peas at you.”

Other culinary pleasures included the freshly made whole-wheat doughnuts available at midnight at the bakery, located where Dunphy’s Real Estate now operates, and Gabby’s barbecue at Xenia Avenue and Corry Street. A trip to the Little Art Theatre cost $1, he recalled.

“It was the good old days,” Oxley said. “We had everything we needed within walking distance.”

The early ’70s was also a time when Antioch College had about 2,000 students, and they all seemed to need the incense and bedspreads Earth Rose sold, Oxley said. As his business prospered, he put the money right back into it, he said, expanding his inventory to include clothing, bags and other imported items.

“I thought that if I took care of the store, that it would take care of me. And it did for a long time,” he said.

In the early 1970s Oxley made what would turn out to be an excellent business decision when he “brought Birkenstocks to the Miami Valley,” he said. He first bought the then-unknown shoes from a Hare Krishna practitioner, he said, and soon began stocking them in the store. They became popular almost immediately, which amazed him, he said, because he didn’t think anyone would pay the outlandish price of $29 for a pair of sandals.

“They did a very good business for a long time. They brought people to town,” he said.

Earth Rose also allowed Oxley to travel to find new items, and he took a trip to the Himalayas in the 1980s, where he found jewelry in Kathmandu. In another trip, he went to Egypt and later he traveled to Russia, from which he brought back lacquered boxes.

His travels changed his life, Oxley said, by introducing him to Eastern ways of thought. He also worked closely with several importers from Asia, he said, and learned more from them about the philosophies and religions, such as Taoism, that he still holds dear.

“That had a profound impact on me,” he said.

Today, Oxley travels each year to New York and Chicago for international trade shows. He has continued to expand Earth Rose’s offerings, and now offers, along with the bedspreads, incense, candles, clothing and shoes, Tiffany lamps, pottery from the Philippines, African masks, Egyptian papyrus and woolen sweaters from the Andes.

While his store prospered for many years, business has been down for a while, he said. Far fewer international visitors seem to come to Yellow Springs now, Oxley said, a change he has noticed since 9/11. Downtown retailers seem to struggle more, he said, a trend that began with the construction of the Fairfield Commons Mall, which seemed to draw business from town, and escalated after Sept. 11, 2001. High gasoline and heating prices also contribute to the downturn, he said.

Oxley also echoed the concerns Ken Simon expressed for the article in last week’s News about the closing of Gemini Gallery and Music after 26 years. In the past, Yellow Springs retailers made a point not to compete with each other, but that code of conduct has changed, Oxley said. Especially, he said, he has been negatively affected by local stores that sell imported items at wholesale prices.

“Business these days is tough enough without so much duplication,” he said.

But the Taoist philosophy he follows says that life is about balance, Oxley said, and sometimes when he feels discouraged about the state of the retailing business he takes its sayings to heart.

Even after 35 years in business, Oxley still likes coming to work in the mornings, offering items from other cultures and learning about his customers as they talk together.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com