Artists and crafters in Baltimore will have one less store where they can buy supplies when Plaza Artist Materials & Picture Framing closes its Mount Vernon location after 25 years in business.
Located at 1009 Cathedral St., the store has been a been a convenient stop for students at the nearby Maryland Institute College of Art and many others. The owner is a regional chain that has other locations in Maryland, but the Cathedral Street store is its only one in Baltimore City.
“We are sad to announce that Plaza Baltimore will be closing its doors permanently at the end of the day on Sunday March 3rd 2024,” the company said on Instagram.
“We are deeply thankful for the support this community has shown us over the last 25+ years. All of our other locations will remain open, so please visit us in Towson, D.C. or one of our others. For more information & a list of additional stores please visit our website at plazaart.com. We will miss you all.”
News about Plaza Baltimore comes the same week that leaders of the Mount Vernon Belvedere Association (MVBA) announced through The Baltimore Sun that they have found a new operator for Eddie’s of Mt. Vernon, the grocery store at 7 W. Eager St. that closed abruptly last June. Eddie’s is a block away from the art supply store.
Ashish Bhandari, a businessman whose family operates the Nepal House restaurant and bar at 920 N. Charles St., was identified in an exclusive front-page Sun article by Amanda Yeager as the new operator who is working to renovate and reopen the Eager Street store by summer.
Jack Danna, president of the MVBA, told members at a community meeting this month that the new operator has acquired the rights to the name Eddie’s of Mt. Vernon, that it will continue to be called Eddie’s, and that the building’s front façade will be restored to its 1930s appearance. Without identifying the operator at that meeting, Danna said the state of Maryland has allocated $286,000 to help the store reopen.
“I think in a couple of weeks we’ll have a lot to celebrate and you’ll certainly read about it in The Baltimore Sun,” he said on Feb. 20. “It will become a model for the state in terms of how you eliminate…what we call food deserts.”
According to its website, Plaza Artist Materials started in 1960 when Rubin Zelenko and business partner opened their first store on East 58th Street in New York City, in a building known as The Picasso. It now has branches up and down the East Coast and in the Midwest.
Plaza moved into the Mid-Atlantic in 1998 by acquiring a company called Visual Systems, which had locations in Baltimore; Bethesda; Rockville; Washington, D. C. and Fairfax, Va. In 2001 it acquired Towson Art at 519 York Road, and that’s its location nearest to Mount Vernon.
Other art supply and framing stores in Baltimore include Blick Art Materials at 229 W. Chase St.; Artist & Craftsman Supply Baltimore at 137 W. North Ave.; JLP Custom Picture Framing at 2406 N. Charles St.; The Frame Room at 1704 Aliceanna St.; Moon Gallery at 815 Scott St.; Davenport imports & Arts at 714 W. 36th St., and the MICA College Store at 1501 W. Mount Royal Ave.
