Movies in the Plaza Is Back for the Summer! May 03 2022

One of the cool things about moving Strange Ways to downtown New Haven? In the warmer months the Downtown Town Green District organizes movie nights every Wednesday. These events take place in Pitkin Plaza—which is directly outside our storefront. It kicks off THIS WEEK with Mean Girls!

Each movie night Strange Ways will be open later until 9PM too! So come on browse before you set up your chair and get settled in. How grool!

Saturday Pop-Up Vendors Wanted April 13 2022

Starting May 14 we will be hosting an artist/maker table EVERY SATURDAY at the Strange Ways Studio—just the other side of our storefront in New Haven, CT. This gives us a chance to allow local creatives to share and sell their work, and hopefully foster better community, opportunities, and good vibes. Apply today for consideration—just be serious and ready!

Be on the lookout for more events in the studio at Strange Ways soon.

New Storefront Hours! March 06 2022

Now that we've been fully settled into our new location in downtown New Haven, we're adjusting our shop hours to fit your wants. We're now open later every day to accommodate all the after work and Happy Hour foot traffic. Come check us out at the back of Pitkin Plaza if you haven't already!

NEW STORE HOURS
151 Orange Street, New Haven CT

11AM–7PM  •  Monday
11AM–7PM
  •  Tuesday
11AM–7PM
  •  Wednesday
11AM–7PM  •  Thursday
11AM–7PM
  •  Friday
11AM–7PM  •  Saturday
11AM–5PM  •  Sunday

Need to park? Try using the 360 State Parking Garage! Enter on State Street (one street over from parallel from us), and then just use one of the stairwells to exit right into Pitkin Plaza. See y'all soon!

Our Sister Store Gets A Feature February 08 2022

When we moved Strange Ways from the quaint neighborhood of Westville Village that we had grown to love, shop owner Alex Dakoulas just couldn't leave the area behind. He's started another store in the old Strange Ways spot called Westville General. A classic New England general store vibe turned modern retail, our sister store focuses more on home, gifts, and food. We think many Strange Ways customers will also appreciate the vibe and offering.

Dakoulas didn’t want to simply run two Strange Ways locations in the same city; that seemed ​“a little silly,” he said. ​He is ​“from New England” — New Hampshire and Massachusetts — ​“and I’ve been used to going to all these small-town general stores.” He wondered why Westville didn’t have a general store of its own already.

Recently Dakoulas was interviewed by the New Haven Independent about Westville General, which included his path of moving to Connecticut and starting Strange Ways to now owning two stores. Read the full article.

Westville General
910 Whalley Avenue, New Haven CT
www.westvillegeneral.com
@westvillegeneral

Strange Ways Grows Its Footprint Downtown November 01 2021

Lucy Gellman from the Arts Council of Greater New Haven wrote a great write-up on our move to downtown, and what makes Strange Ways stand out in a sea of normal. She also took some great photos of our spooky celebration event that coincided with the Downtown NHV “Movies in the Plaza” showing of Hocus Pocus.

Read the whole article here...

Downtown Grand Opening + Hocus Pocus Screening October 25 2021

Spooky season is our favorite time of year, and it’s the perfect occasion to officially stamp Strange Ways as part of the downtown New Haven scene. Join us to celebrate our Grand Opening, plus the 2021 finale of the Town Green District “Movies in the Plaza” series! This spooky celebration will be the perfect way to lead into Halloween—so light that black flame candle and see ya soon, witches!

STRANGE WAYS GRAND OPENING
Open late until 10PM
Spooky pop-up vendors in the Strange Ways Studio feat. The Pulp Girls and Queerly Departed
FREE arcade plays
Save 20% off storewide!

MOVIES IN THE PLAZA
Hocus Pocus film screening at 8PM
Raffle giveaways
Photobooth (Halloween costumes encouraged!)
https://www.downtownnewhaven.com/movies

RSVP on Facebook

New Location (+ New Business Announcement!) August 24 2021

We are moving locations!

Important dates below.

What felt like years in the making, I can officially announce Strange Ways will be moving next month into a large, open space in downtown New Haven, CT at 151 Orange Street!

When the pandemic hit, I thought maybe we’d close like so many other small businesses at the time. Instead, y’all hunkered down and supported us like never before. When we were allowed to reopen for in-store sales here in Connecticut, they’ve only been stronger as well. Maybe it’s the mindsets of what people want to see survive these strange times, but the last year has given me the confidence to take Strange Ways to the next level.

With a larger space, we can showcase more diverse product and more makers with room for storage and display. This new location will also have an office area, studio space, pop-up event room, and hopefully more creative offerings. Not only will the larger store allow growth for the future, with better flow between online and in-store sales—we’ll generally be closer to all the new happenings downtown. Orange Street, and the Ninth Square area, has seen other local small businesses thrive. We’ll still be close by, and if anything have more opportunity for New Haven visitors and locals to pass by us and stop in. 

Last Day for Shopping in Old Location:  Aug 31
Opening Day in New Location:  Sept 20

Last Day for Placing Online Orders:  Aug 29
Online Order Fulfillment Begins Again:  Sept 13

I tried to stay find a way to stay in the Westville neighborhood that we flourished in, but when an opportunity like this new Downtown location arises it almost feels like fate. BUT—we couldn’t leave that easily. Lots of you have been asking what is going on with our old space when we move—well, surprise, we are opening a new shop in its place. Please go follow our future sister store the Westville General store for updates at @westvillegeneral. I hope y’all welcome it with open arms the same way Strange Ways was.

Thank you to everyone who has supported my (and our) strange little business to the point that we can now grow into the next chapter. We will need to close the online store and the storefront for a bit to transition, so please prepare. The last few weeks have been build out on the new space, and when I find time to pause it feels like a dream. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

-Alex Dakoulas
Owner & Creative Director

Seventeen Magazine | Best Friend Gifts 2020 December 05 2020

It's been a bit of time since we received any mainstream press. This holiday season Seventeen Magazine chose the Fuck Off Rose Socks we carry as part of one of their gift guides. The last time they featured anything from our store was over 4 years ago, so this is pretty cool!

55 Thoughtful Holiday Gifts Your Best Friend Will Genuinely Love

Shopify Gift Better Guide November 19 2020

We've been gladly chosen as part of Shopify's #GiftBetter Guide that helps spread support for independent shops this holiday season. They teamed up with select influencers and artist Adam J. Kurtz (whose work we carry!) chose one of our newer tapestries as part of his picks. View the entire guide below, and remember to shop small for gifts this year more than ever!

Gift Ideas for Interior Delights
by Adam J. Kurtz

Storefront Reopening Details May 17 2020

Last week the New Haven Independent (with story and photos by Emily Hays) spoke with myself about how I've been able to transition Strange Ways to solely online sales the past 2 months. Luckily, we've seen great support from locals and customers from all over that have continued to shop with us. This has also helped our business maintain support for the creatives we source our products from, by restocking their items and passing on the cashflow.

We've been keeping our New Haven, CT storefront closed to the public—while continuing to consistently ship out orders every week. For safety measures, this has been the easiest route to streamline things while keeping things going. Even for local customers we turned off In-Store Pickup, but we did reduce the Free Shipping minimum hopefully allowing many people to stay home safely.

Recently Connecticut Governor Lamont announced plans for retail businesses like Strange Ways to reopen on May 20th, with necessary precautions. After assessing the risks, I have decided to have Strange Ways be a part of this phase of business reopenings. However, there are guidelines any customer who wishes to shop in-person must follow. Most of these come from state regulations, while we also kindly ask you to follow some of our own.

We will continue to ship out online orders in a timely manner—even moreso now, reverting back to packing orders almost every day of the week. If any customer wishes to shop with us online still, that is absolutely no problem. Let us ship to you! We also turned back on In-Store Pickup at checkout for all Connecticut customers if they order online. All one has to do is pop in for a few seconds as we hand off your order.

Stay safe, healthy, and smart!

-Alex Dakoulas
Owner & Creative Director

Strange Ways Storefront
Reopening May 20th

IN-STORE SHOPPING GUIDELINES

• All customers absolutely must wear a face covering
  

• All employees will be wearing a face covering

• Limited amount of customers inside at once

• Cashless pay preferred (Tap, Apple Pay, Google Pay)

• Please only touch items you wish to buy, if possible

• Staff will be disinfecting common touch areas frequently

• No one should come inside if they feel sick 

• We offer easy online shopping with In-Store Pickup!