October 23, 2015, The New haven Independent, by Markeshia Ricks - "Alex Dakoulas could have set up his shop of carefully curated, indie accessories, retro finds and oddities in any remotely hipster-friendly neighborhood from Baltimore to Boston. The former graphics and footwear designer for Puma and Converse decided to take a chance on New Haven, with hopes that the city would take a chance on him. Dakoulas, 31, moved with his boyfriend from the Boston-area, where he lived for a decade, to New Haven last year with plans to open a physical outlet of the online business that he'd started called Strange Ways. "A lot of people think it’s from the Smiths album, but I did not even know that album,” Dakoulas said of the store’s moniker. “I can’t lie; I was just looking for something. I wanted it to be broad enough that I could kind of play with it.” With a nod to pop-culture at its most irreverent, the store, which now calls Westville home, lives up to its name in more ways than one. The store is in the heart of the commercial “village” at 910 Whalley Ave. From its old-school arcade game at the back of the store, to its assortment of iron-on patches and pins designed by sometimes local, and almost always independent artists and craftmakers, Strange Ways is unlike anything that exists in New Haven, let alone Westville...

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