Photograph by Vy Pham
Indie Northern Kentucky (or iNK, as co-owners Tom and Ren Boeing call it) is bent on a DIY ethos. Billed as a zine, alternative comics, self-published, and small press bookstore, the Boeings’s Dayton, Kentucky, storefront—complete with brightly-painted walls, black-and-white checkered floors, and racks stocked with items like punk magazine Razorcake, poetry chapbooks, niche zines, comics, and tarot decks—mirrors its stock of eclectic goods.
Tom and Ren’s vision for iNK originated with Zinecinnati, a fest they founded in 2019. But Tom’s interest in the small press scene dates back to his days at Columbia College Chicago, where he drew inspiration from big-city bookstores like Chicago Comics, Alleycat Comics, and Quimby’s.
Photograph by Vy Pham
“After moving home [to the Cincinnati area], I was making my own zines and comics and going to small press shows all over the Midwest,” says Tom. Alongside Ren, he realized that there was a need for such a fest in Cincinnati, and thus Zinecinnati was born.
“We had done two or three Zinecinnatis and were like, It would be cool to have something like this year-round,” says Tom. In 2023, that vision came to fruition through iNK, which they launched via a shared storefront with Petri’s Floral in Bellevue. By November 2024, iNK opened solo down the road in Dayton.
Photograph by Vy Pham
“We envisioned providing a place where people could come and hang out that doesn’t necessarily cost money,” says Ren. “Yes, we have a business, but it’s a bookstore. Bookstores are not traditionally money-making businesses. It’s more important for us to have a place where people come, chill, and work on art.”
The store uses a consignment model, meaning it carries artists’ items and gives them a cut of each sale. Similarly, iNK pays its artists when commissioning their work for posters and advertisements. “For some artists, that’s the first time they have ever gotten paid for their art,” says Tom.
Alongside its retail space, the store has an area for free events like poetry and book readings, release parties, and gatherings, like the Comics Club, which meets the last Friday of every month. The hope is that the store becomes a third place for the community to create and connect together.
“Ren and I work full-time aside from running a store,” says Tom. “It really is a labor of love over here. I think a lot of artists, or folks who come through the store, can sense that.”
Indie Northern Kentucky, 507 Sixth Ave., Dayton, (513) 360-8519
Photograph by Vy Pham
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