Tempe, Arizona-—the perfect college town. Despite growing up fairly nearby the glorious city, upon my arrival freshman year I still had yet to learn the ins and outs of my new home. Through the grapevine, I had heard that Mill Avenue was sort of a niche for any aspiring artist, so that was where I first wandered when I went looking for a cool, hole-in-the-wall craft supply store.
My wanderings took me actually a bit past Mill. Two blocks west of Mill Avenue at 806 South Ash Ave., on the southwest corner of Ash Avenue and University Drive, I encountered Wet Paint Artist Supply, Tempe’s only family-owned art supply store. Wet Paint is open seven days a week and sells everything from canvas and paint to glues, paper, clay, and drawing utensils—perfect for whatever kind of art you may be interested in creating. Great sales are always going on here and the supplies themselves are pretty inexpensive. The store employees are super friendly and willing to help you with any sorts of arts and crafts questions you may have. The store also will sometimes feature a guest artist’s artwork or an employee’s artwork in the works for customers to admire and to fuel inspiration. My years of earned living experience in Tempe refuse to let me stray from this store.
If you’re looking for another craft store in walking distance from campus, Utrecht Art Supply Store is another great option. This store is a bit larger than Wet Paint, and has a greater selection of canvas and tool kits, as well as other supplies. Its website always has great in-store coupons that will you get you great discounts (and being an ASU student helps too!). Another great thing about this store is its featured blank Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers. They offer these shoes completely blank for anyone who wants to try their hand at making a custom pair. They always have great custom shoe designs on display as well to get your creative juices flowing. Utrecht is located at 930 E. University Dr. on the northeast corner of Rural Road and University Drive.
And don’t forget, your local Michaels and Jo-Ann’s craft stores are great sources as well that have just about everything you may need! As for what craft supply store to go to, it just depends on the atmosphere you’re looking for. But either way, you’ll have all the supplies you need to get crafting!
