Yellow Springs local and comedian Dave Chappelle at an event at Little Art Theatre in 2018. (YS News archive photo by Robert Hasek)
Chappelle opens new merch store in downtown Yellow Springs
- Published: May 5, 2026
It’s no joke: The village’s own world-famous comedian has opened the doors to a new downtown store.
On Saturday, April 25, local resident Dave Chappelle’s merch shop — dubbed The Chappelle Shop — started doing business inside his newly renovated commercial building at 221 Xenia Ave. For sale are Chappelle-branded apparel, including socks, pants and shirts, as well as thermoses, lighters, vinyl records and more.
Since late 2021, Chappelle sold these and other merchandise out of the former Oten Gallery, just a few addresses to the south.
“It was a pop-up that ended up lasting four-and-a-half years,” store manager Joe Harworth told the News with a laugh.
The Chappelle Shop’s new space is the first usage of the newly constructed building at the address; it occupies 640 square feet in the back half of the building’s ground floor, and is now the only downtown business with a front entrance facing Kieth’s Alley.
The “front” of The Chappelle Shop, at 221 Xenia Ave., faces Kieth’s Alley — named after longtime YS News Editor Kieth Howard. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Harworth said that orientation was intentional. The Chappelle Shop is directly visible from the comedian’s club — The Firehouse — on Corry Street, which hosts sporadically scheduled, but consistently sold-out music and comedy performances.
“This building can really work with the club — the idea is that all those people can line up, look over their shoulder and see us,” Harworth said.
The store’s hours go well beyond showtimes at the comedy club. Doors are open seven days a week, noon-6 p.m. On evenings with a show, the store will stay open well into the night. These hours are split between six employees.
The modernist aesthetics of the store’s interior matches other Yellow Springs buildings owned by Iron Table Holdings, Chappelle’s development company. Red lights shine on exposed brick walls and the minimalist layout. Near the cash register is a DJ’s turntable — poised for the occasional party.
Staffers Christina Ream and Julie Duncan pose in the newly opened Chappelle Shop — the local comedian’s new downtown merchandise store at 221 Xenia Avenue, with the front entrance facing Kieth’s Alley. It’s open every day, noon–6 p.m. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
All of the apparel for sale follow Chappelle’s personal style — the kind of threads he sports on stage. They’re designed by Harworth and produced in his home region of Orange County, California.
“There are shirts with the classic C, but there’s also a lot of stuff that’s loud and speaks to culture,” Harworth said. “It’s not your normal, everyday clothes.”
On the back of one hoodie is the image of a lion below the stenciled word “UNSTOPPABLE,” the title of Chappelle’s 2025 TV special. Underneath is an oft-repeated quote from his mother: “Sometimes you have to be a lion so you can be the lamb you really are.” That hoodie is for sale for $75.
Near 221 Xenia Ave. are other properties owned by Iron Table Holdings that could work in tandem with the club and store, should they be utilized.
Chappelle’s comedy club, The Firehouse — an homage to the space’s former life as the Miami Township Fire-Rescue station — is adjacent to the merch store, as well as several other properties owned by the comedian. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
On the corner of Kieth’s Alley and Corry Street, and directly across from both the store and club’s entrances, is a residential property Chappelle purchased from local residents Bette Kelley and Wayne Gulden two years ago. Iron Table Holdings also owns the two adjoining parcels, one of which was the site of a small apartment building that was razed last week.
Chappelle purchased the property at 221 Xenia Ave. in 2021 following the death of the previous owner, Ed Oxley, who operated Earth Rose International Imports for 50 years there. At a Planning Commission meeting in 2022, Chappelle’s architect Max Crome said the ruinous Earth Rose building was entirely unsalvageable, and proposed the “mid-century modern” design that the new building displays.
The majority of this new 2,704-square-foot building in which the merch store resides is unoccupied: The Xenia Avenue-facing side of the first floor and the upstairs are presently vacant. Harworth said he wasn’t sure what Chappelle’s plans for those spaces are.
Plans are in place, however, for monthly “First Friday” events at the shop — in-store parties that feature live music, food and drinks, raffle prizes and dancing the first Friday evening, 5–8 p.m., of each month.
“We want this to be a community space,” Harworth said. “Whether you want to buy something or not, stop in and have a good time. First Fridays have such great energy. And when he’s in town, sometimes Dave stops by.”
The opening of The Chappelle Shop comes on the heels of the ribbon cutting at the Union Schoolhouse, a 19th-century structure that Iron Table Holdings renovated to accommodate local NPR affiliate 91.3 WYSO. The local radio station officially moved in last month after years of construction and rehab work at the schoolhouse.
Chappelle owns a host of other properties in the downtown business district and throughout the rest of Yellow Springs — several of which are at various stages of redevelopment for the comedian’s future enterprises.
The Chappelle Shop is located at 221 Xenia Ave., and is open every day noon–6 p.m.
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