After living in Eugene for a few years, the landscape can feel a little static, especially around the campus. Something new often sticks out even if it is only a subtle change. So when students drive down Franklin Boulevard near Villard Street and expect to see the dingy old Silverstar Video, they will be surprised to see something completely different. Silverstar’s replacement, The Station, is one of the most quizzical and compelling storefronts in Eugene.
The Station’s exterior is sort of a mixture of a Mad Max and Disneyland. From a distance it looks like a run-down gas station. A green billboard with clean white spray paint spelling out “TAG YOUR (sic) IT” stands over the property. Quite a bit of the property seems to be hit hard by some rather intricate graffiti artists. But The Station doesn’t look dreary or desolate; it is actually quite inviting. All of the gas pumps have been painted in cool reds, yellows and greens. The storefront has a mural on it portraying vines sprouting out of the ground; the unobstructed windows reveal a bright interior.
A passerby can’t help but wonder what’s in the shop. Is it a new video store? A graffiti art gallery? A vegan restaurant? Nope, it’s The Station: a Seedless Clothing outlet, gift store and seller of locally blown tobacco water pipes.
The Station’s owner, Curtis Cybenko, opened his store on September 12 after spending two months cleaning out and fixing up the store. It was initially estimated that cleanup would take two weeks.
“It was nasty. There were paneled walls, the rug was coming apart and when we took out the carpet the padding was powdered. Nothing had been done to this place in 20 years,” Cybenko said.
“The guy next door at 7-Eleven thought it was condemned.”
The Station isn’t Cybenko’s first business. He owned a similar store in Gainesville, Fla. for 10 years.
“I have a lot of friends in Eugene. I was out here for a wedding and I saw the store for rent, it was a nice area, and the people here are a lot nicer,” Cybenko said. “Everyone was telling me to come on out. I was kind of sick of being in Gainesville. I’d been there for fifteen years and I wanted to get out.
“All my glass is from Eugene. I’ve been working with these people for years; I was shipping this glass out to Gainesville,” Cybenko said. “That’s another reason why I came out here, all these people who have been blowing for me are my friends now. Some of them I had never met.”
The Station is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day.
“We have a very wide selection. We have posters, black lights, door beads, tapestries, incense,” Cybenko said. “We’re trying to make this an all-around store. We want to have something for everybody. A lot of people like the Seedless clothes. Seedless doesn’t have a lot of stores up here.
“I think students will like the atmosphere,” Cybenko said. He encourages students to “Come in and check out the store, see if you like it. Let us know what you think. We’ll try to make improvements as we see what the community wants from us.”

[email protected]