The College Artisans Shop works to make its mark in Oxford

Handmade jewelry, student artwork, vintage clothing and other specialty items fill the shelves at The College Artisans Shop at 10 S. Poplar St. 

The store is tucked away from the main strip of Uptown, but can be recognized by the green dinosaur statue in front of the building. Owner Rhett Bilski took over the shop 10 months after its opening in 2024 and said promoting the shop has become one of the biggest challenges for the business.

“Everyone that came into the store before was like, ‘This place is so cute. How have I not heard of it? How have I not been here before?,’” Rhett said. “You can’t see us. It's completely so far set back that people don’t know it's a store.”

Despite its location, The College Artisans Shop has found ways to attract customers through social media and a new ambassador program that launched earlier this year. The program uses student connections to gain wider outreach in Oxford. 

Carly Shaw, a junior at Miami University, is one of the shop's student, brand ambassador and sorority ambassadors for the shop. She creates videos for TikTok and Instagram three to four times a month and acts as a liaison to the Miami Greek life community for organizing events.  

The position not only benefits the shop, but also allows student ambassadors to gain hands-on experience with content creation and marketing. 

“I get to work on my personal brand. I can post on my personal account and make it my own, while also trying to keep their brand's voice and what Rhett wants me to say,” Shaw said. “It's good to be able to practice that for a future internship or job, … it's cool to get a foot in the door.”

Shaw said the student connection is what separates the shop from other retail stores. 

“They have clothes that actual college students would want to wear and work with student artists who are able to sell their items at the store,” Shaw said. “It's very welcoming; the store tries to connect with the community and students.

Bilski notes it is not difficult to bring student art into the store. 

“We are pretty lucky to have artists that just know of the store and want to sell their stuff in here,” Bilski said. “They just come to us and bring their stuff in and say, ‘Hey, I want to sell here.’ The process is super easy, you sign a contract and then your work is in the store.”

Bilski took ownership of the store in February 2025 after his roommate from his first-year of college, previous owner Julian Bradley, and his girlfriend Genevieve Gerenz, moved for an opportunity in Manhattan. He has since slightly changed the store's layout and product inventory, especially after taking out some student art that was not properly contracted. 

“There's a lot less art in here than there was, which the purpose of the store was to be an artwork store, but it just wasn't anymore,” he said. “It looked like an empty store, so I needed to kind of change things around to fit what we have more of.” 

Since then, there has been a focus on filling the space with vintage clothing.

Another one of the heavier focuses for Bilski is the spoon rings. He repurposes the antique silverware he finds at auctions, estate and garage sales and restaurants that let him take the cutlery for his art.

The spoon rings have become one of the biggest successes for Bilski. He also sells them off-site at events like the Cleveland Market.

“People DM me on Instagram asking me to make rings for them from their grandmother's spoons, or from someone related to them, or like some sort of family significance for these spoon rings,” Bilski said.

Permanent jewelry has followed the same pattern with lower sales in-store than off-site. 

The contradiction illustrates Bilski’s central challenge of getting the store’s name around Oxford and beyond. 

“If you don’t see it, you’re not gonna go in,” Shaw said. “I think they just need more word of mouth … that's how my friends went. They didn't know about it, and I was like, ‘Guys, use code Carly5 and go buy something,’ and they did, and they were like, ‘Wow, it's really cute.’”