When Central Florida Office Plus shut down after being in business for 56 years, it left more than just an empty store.
The local office and art supply store, which closed its doors for good on June 24 due to insufficient funding, left a hole in the art community because it was the only place many art aficionados shopped.
“It’s like McDonald’s running out of their meat source,” said Robert Mueller, a UF associate professor specializing in printmaking.
Mueller said the art department will have to rethink how it gets materials now.
The whole reason for having a local art store was as a safeguard for running out of supplies, he said.
“No one can predict how much of everything you need,” Mueller said.
Clara Aziz, a 19-year-old UF art sophomore with a specialization in sculpture, said it is inconvenient for the store to close.
She said sometimes teachers would tell them they needed ink and they needed it by tomorrow.
“Sometimes teachers will have you get stuff at the last minute, but then you don’t have time to order something and have it shipped,” she said.
Aziz said the bigger stores are not as good and they are over-priced. She said she feels like Gainesville doesn’t care that much about art.
“We feel neglected,” Aziz said. “Where are we supposed to get our materials?”
Ben Ingle, a 25-year-old UF art senior specializing in painting, said he has been a customer since drawing became his hobby at 5 years old.
“I’ve been shopping there since they’ve been open,” he said. “I was shocked when they closed. I thought they were doing amazing.”
Ingle said it was convenient that he didn’t have to pay extra for expedited shipping or wait a week for something to arrive when he was working on a project.
He said he has a lot of materials since he has been painting for so long, but he feels bad for the other students.
Alex Velasquez, a 21-year-old UF architecture junior, said the store was the only place that had all the professional tools he needed for drawing and art. He said he was heartbroken when it closed and that it was more than just a store.
“I felt like they were really tied to the community,” Velasquez said.
He said it often displayed fliers for different events, such as the Spring Arts Festival.
It was the place to go, not just for students, but for local artists, too.
“It affects everybody in the community,” Mueller said.
He said it’s hard to order five sheets of paper from a vendor in New York because the company won’t do it.
Vendors like when people buy in bulk, and the school can do that but some local artists can’t afford to, he said.
Hopefully people will see this as a big niche to fill, Mueller said.
“A city this size that doesn’t have an art materials store and yet has the size of our art department and the requirements for what we need is really cutting off the wellspring of making the work,” Mueller said. “We make things. If we don’t have the materials to make things, its kind of hard to make them.”
For former customers, all that’s left to do is wait.
“Hopefully someone opens up an art store,” said Ingle. “Say you need something in a pinch, where are you going to go? It’s massively inconvenient that there’s not a good art store in Gainesville anymore.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 7/15/2014 under the headline "Art supply store closure leaves void"]
Central Florida Office Plus, located at 10 Northwest Sixth St., closed its doors Tuesday after 56 years of business. The store was a hub for local artists and office workers.
