Our address & final hours

Oh no, it happened.  The blog buried our address. Sorry folks!  
Please find us at: 

Collective Upcycle

13226 Shaker Square

Cleveland, OH 44120
between Fire Food & Drink and Yours Truly Restaurant
Our final hours of the holiday season: 
Fri. Dec. 23, 12-8pm & Sat.Dec. 24, 10am-5pm. (closing early for Christmas Eve & wishing you, and you, and you a very happy holiday season!)

Free Gift Bag with Purchase!

Yes.  We get really into reusing leftover materials.  Pictured here are the bags you'll walk away with when you purchase something at our shop. They're made of leftover vinyl wall covering and magazines.  And they might make you squeal!

Come on in!

We're open Thursdays-Sundays 12pm-8pm at 13226 Shaker Square (between Fire & Yours Truly)

photo credit: Candy Freed

We Open November 17!

Collective Upcycle is a pop-up boutique of reused art & handmade gifts by 35 regional artists who believe in the idea of taking something and making it into something else. It's recycling, of sorts, but its more than that because we take materials as they are and alter them in away that ADDS value. We like to call it upcycling.

We'll reclaim this vacant space November 17 ---December 24 (and then we go away)

Great place, great space. We're looking forward!

“As the owner and steward of Shaker Square, we’re thrilled to partner with Collective Upcycle. This unique store will be a great addition to our lineup of restaurants and merchants and offer a healthy dose of creativity and cheer to the neighborhood this winter. Collective Upcycle enhances the growing community of galleries and local arts nonprofits at the Square.” 
----Jeff Epstein, Coral Company

Announcing.....Our Holiday Digs!

Collective Upcycle Holiday Boutique will open again this holiday season!  We chose to announce our holiday location today, in honor of ReUse Day....drum roll..... 

We will be in historic Shaker Square! 

The great people at Coral Company "got it", like what we do and have been super nice.  We're excited about this partnership.   Our shop will take over the empty shelves of the former beverage and spirits store beside Fire Restaurant.  Tucked into an inviting walkway with lots of empty windows, wall to wall shelving, and a quirky layout we can't wait to take over, it feels like a great fit. 

The boutique will be full of the goods of 30+ local & regional reuse artists & upcyclists.    It will be the plastic bag, cast away glass, reclaimed sweater, salvaged bicycle part, scrap wire, expired flooring sample, scrap paper, sailcloth, and all around recycled/reusey/upcycling space that we dream of....And what a great place for holiday shopping!

Save the date to join us for an opening celebration the evening of Thursday, November 17th.  Following that, we'll be open Thursdays-Sundays until Christmas eve. Prepare yourselves.   This is going to be great!

We'll pop up again

It's true, we're not in Gordon Square Arts District anymore and the fabulously large and window-rrific space we filled for the month of June is now empty.  
But the good news is that the space at 6710 Detroit Avenue may have a new tenant (of the permanent type!) by the end of the year.   And we, in our pop-up style, will be re-opening a Collective Upcycle holiday shop.  At a location that we'll announce in October and open in November.  Stay tuned, check back, follow us on facebook, and know that we love our customers, friends, and supporters as much as you love us back :)

Hot off the Press

Follow this link for A great article in the Plain Dealer on Pop-Up retail and below, a favorite Collective Upcycle photo taken by Laura Watilo Blake

Come on in!

Our hours:
Tuesday-Friday
10am -8pm
Saturday-Sunday:
12pm-6pm


Its fun here. 
Come on in!

We're Open!

Today, we stop politely telling friendly wanderers-in that we're not actually open.  
We open at 12 noon. Today is Party in Gordon Square Day, and we expect lots of visitors.  We hope you're one of them.  Or the next day.  Or Tuesday.  Or Wednesday.   But with live music, lots of other art happening, performances, food trucks, beer gardens....we think you should just make it today.  We're open until 7pm (and lots of other activities continue until much later after that.)   Happy Saturday!


We're at 6710 Detroit Avenue, beside Sweet Moses, in the 44102 of Cleveland.  

It's getting better and better in here.

We believe in the magic that happens when you pick up something leftover, give it a little love and add some creativity.   Collective Upcycle is full of the goods that are born from this process of upcycling -- taking an existing or leftover material and altering it in a way that adds value to it.  
We also believe in the process that happens when you walk into an empty retail space and vision what could happen in the space for a short amount of time.  Could we fill it with the work of 30 local reuse/upcycle artists?  Could we host some workshops and build community in this space?  Could we watch Detroit Avenue buzz by through these enormous front windows while eating ice cream from next door?     It started as an empty space but with help  from Habitat for Humanity ReStore and the collective efforts of our artists, we've created the empty space into a shop that looks pretty inviting if we say so ourselves.  

This is a friendly street

Each time we're here new people stop by.  They ask if we need help, when we'll open, what we'll have in this space.  Usually in that order.  It's a great street, it's great to be next to Sweet Moses, and it's even greater to be filling our temporary home with great artwork. 

When people ask, we explain ourselves a little something like this: 

Collective Upcycle is a pop-up boutique of reused art & handmade goods by Cleveland artists. We're taking over the big & beautiful storefront in the NearWest Loftworks building at 6710 Detroit Avenue this summer from Saturday June 11-Sunday, July 3rd.  We're bringing together 30 Cleveland-area artists & innovators who repurpose existing resources & leftover materials and transform them into something new, functional, beautiful, or whimsical. In an enthusiastic demonstration of Cleveland's bustling creative reuse economy, you'll find repurposed jewelry, tote bags, flowers, furniture, candles, decorations, photo frames, stationary, wind chimes, magnets, accessories, art and more in Collective Upcycle. Stay tuned for workshops and activities being planned in the space.
Come back! We open June 11th!

We Open Sat. June 11th at noon

June 11th is a fun and exciting day in our neighborhood.  This morning we met with event organizers and merchants in Gordon Square Arts District and learned we expect thousands of visitors for Discover Gordon Square Arts District Day (!!!)  Plan to be part of the fun & joy in as we all celebrate summer, parties, live music, food trucks, art, local economy, great neighborhoods, incredible ice cream, and, of course, creative reuse!  More information on the celebration here. 


Following that lovely day, we'll be open:
Saturdays and Sundays: 12-6pm
Tuesdays --- Fridays: 10am-8pm


.........until Sunday July 3rd, the day we high five every customer and then call it a wrap. Extended hours, activities, and other fun events during our 3 weeks coming to a tab in the menu (above) very soon.  

We are the collective in Collective Upcycle

We are quiet and mighty, scrappy and innovative, resourceful and inspired.  We look at leftovers and excess from all kinds of sources and we reconsider what others want to chuck out.  We stare at it, hold it in our hands, vision something exciting.  And then we make it.  Check out who we are under the Artists & Upcyclists tab above.  And prepare to get excited...

Hello, pleased to meet you.

We're new around here and we're pleased you're visiting.  Who are we and what do we do, you ask?  

What

Collective Upcycle is a pop-up boutique, popping up for a specific amount of time in an empty retail space and then popping down. It is thoughtful, funky, and innovative space filled with the goods of reuse* artists who make their work by hand, often by starting with raw material that others cast away or discard.

When

Collective Upcycle is popping up under this name for the very first time this June. We’ll open on Saturday June 11^th and stay open every day for three weeks  (except Mondays) until Sunday, July 3^rd.

Where

We’ll be in the big & beautiful Near West Loftworks building at 6710 Detroit Avenue, in the heart of Gordon Square Arts District.  With floor to ceiling storefront windows and 3500 square feet, it will be colorful, energetic, and bustling with visitors.  (We’re next door to the newly opened Sweet Moses Soda Fountain & Treat Shop!)

Who

This effort is being organized by Nicole McGee, a reuse artist and founder of Plenty Underfoot LLC, a small business that brings together

excess waste/materials, creativity and community.   Approximately 30 local reuse artists will partner with Nicole to fill the boutique and some will also lead activities and workshops in the space. 

Why

Collective Upcycle is a collective demonstration of the bustling creative reuse economy already underway in Cleveland.   We live in an area rich with resources for creative reuse.  It’s an exciting time to be reusing, and joining in with others to build community around this work/art is what Collective Upcycle is all about.

How

Collective Upcycle functions like a regular retail business with low overhead since we don’t maintain a location year round.   Artists receive 70% of the proceeds of the goods they sell in our boutique and we collectively share responsibility for promoting & spreading the word like dandelion seeds in the wind. 

*To reuse is to take something that was used before and use it again. Reuse artists often transform an original material in some way that adds value to it (sometimes called upcycling).

For more information, email:  nicole@plentyunderfoot.com