A new shop is coming to Greenport’s Front Street, where visitors can purchase bags, pins, cups, plates and even chess sets.
The catch? Everything is two-dimensional.
“I started to look for 2D shops, and there are none. There are a bunch of 2D restaurants,” co-creator Ron Rose said. “Not all of them survive, but they’re fabulous, and it’s an immersive experience.”
From there, an idea for the store took shape.
The store — plainly named 2D Shop — will open at 310 Front St. on Sept. 26, the first day of the Maritime Festival.
“It’s a little on the nose, but you know what you’re coming in for,” Robert DeMatteo, who works in the shop, said with a smile. “Why add more dimension to it?”
The interior is designed to feel as though visitors have stepped inside a life-sized coloring book, transforming an ordinary retail space into a black-and-white world of bold outlines and hand-drawn details. The result is a space that plays with perception and blurs the line between illustration and reality.
“We just like doing things that are creative,” Rose said.
The idea grew naturally from Rose’s son Jake’s work as an artist and author. He has been creating coloring books since 2017 that feature local historical spots and businesses, such as the Greenport carousel and Preston’s, along with facts about their origins.
Published under the Color Our Town brand, Jake Rose has since authored nearly 40 coloring books, inviting readers to explore places through detailed black-and-white illustrations and bring those drawings to life with their own color and imagination — much like the new shop.
“We spent years inviting people to bring our coloring books to life,” Ron Rose said. “Jake’s idea was to take that experience one step further — to create a place where people could actually enter the coloring book and become part of the page.”
The Roses are planning a special 2D event next summer as well, dubbed the “Great Flattening.”
The dimension-shattering gathering will feature 18 people, all transformed to look two-dimensional. They’ll have makeup, clothing and even sneakers painted to fit the part. Ron Rose said it should take about 10 minutes to transform a single person.
The group will then take the two-dimensional act to Mitchell Park for a party.
“It’s going to be the greatest gathering of 2D people ever,” he says. “All invited extra-dimensionals could come in. If you’re an uninvited extra-dimensional, we have a 2D bouncer and a 2D carpet to keep you out.”
