Shopping experiences trend toward local shows, vendors
By Michael C. Butz
Photo: Michael C. Butz | About 8,000 visited October’s Cleveland Flea
Shopping is often more than an action or means to an end. It’s an experience — one frequently shared with others and enjoyed at least in part due to the location and what it offers.
Daylong excursions to downtown Cleveland’s renowned department stores are fondly remembered by generations of Northeast Ohioans, while others recall weekends spent at the mall. But Higbee’s and Halle’s are long gone, a handful of the region’s malls have gone the way of Randall Park Mall, and the recent economic downturn left several shopping centers riddled with big-box vacancies.
Photo: Becki Cooper | Becki Cooper, right, talks to Simi Kahai of Designs Beautiful at the Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
Rising to fill the void – and leaving their own distinctive mark on the retail landscape – have been artist- and artisan-fueled indie arts and crafts shows. Such shows are growing both in popularity and numbers in Greater Cleveland, where in recent years there’s been a groundswell of support for local businesses.
“There’s definitely the whole ‘shop local’ movement, especially in Cleveland, where people really support their hometown,” says Becki Cooper, founder of Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show. “A lot of people show Cleveland pride and want to keep the community thriving – especially since we haven’t always had nice things written about us.”
At Avant-Garde’s first show in June 2011, there were about 45 vendors. These days, each of the 10 shows – two in Rocky River, two in Solon, two in Fairlawn and four in Columbus – Cooper organizes annually hosts about 100 vendors, or the maximum the community center event hall in which the show is held will accommodate.
Driving demand are the hundreds of Northeast Ohioans who attend each show looking for unique things: jewelry made from antique brooches, upcycled glass dishes and doorknobs, hand-dipped candles, handmade pepper mills or paintings done on driftwood.
“(Avant-Garde shows) have really gotten larger, and I think once people come to our shows, they see it’s not your average mom-and-pop craft show and they want to keep coming back,” says Cooper, a 27-year-old Solon resident who grew up going to Beth Israel-The West Temple in Cleveland but now splits her time between Beth Israel and Park Synagogue in Pepper Pike and Cleveland Heights.
Photo: Michael C. Butz | Stephanie Sheldon browses items
The Cleveland Flea, a monthly urban flea market based in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood, started in February with about 20 vendors and 1,500 visitors and grew to about 110 vendors and 8,000 visitors at its show in October at Sterle’s Country House.
Founder Stephanie Sheldon says “a lot of energy” surrounds The Cleveland Flea, explaining that the live music and many different food and drink options make it “a place to see and be seen.”
Sheldon agrees that a desire to shop local, combined with the increased use and popularity of websites like Etsy and Pinterest, have contributed to the growing public awareness of indie craft shows – especially in the Midwest
“It’s that Rust Belt mentality that cities like Cleveland, Detroit and Pittsburgh have where we’re very resourceful and ‘local-centric,’ so we end up wanting to support our local artists and local community. This is a perfect storm for that,” says the 34-year-old resident of Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, adding visitors to the flea get to meet the makers themselves. “I call these people small businesses and artisans. … They’re serious about their businesses, they’re not just hobbyists.”
Photo: Michael C Butz | At The Cleveland Flea, Katie Plato talks to a customer
Sheldon says many of the vendors have created a community of their own – a point with which Katie Plato, who owns Something To Be Found and has had a booth at three Cleveland Fleas, agrees.
“Before, I wasn’t active in this scene, but when you see other artists, you feel like you’ve become part of a whole new group of friends,” says the 32-year-old Lyndhurst resident, who growing up attended Suburban Temple-Kol Ami in Beachwood. “It’s a whole network of people.”
Photo: Melissa Klimo Major | The entrance to Cleveland Bazaar, formerly known as Bazaar Bizarre, at 78th Street Studios
Though The Cleveland Flea and Avant-Garde capture the recent trend, indie craft shows aren’t an entirely new phenomenon. Cleveland Bazaar, formerly known as Bazaar Bizarre, started in 2004 and dubs itself the “Northeast Ohio’s longest running indie craft show.” Its centerpiece holiday show is held each December at the 78th Street Studios in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, the former home of American Greetings’ creative studios.
Cleveland Bazaar started with about 20 vendors and “a few hundred” attendees, said founder Shannon Okey. It’s grown to about 100 vendors and more than 5,000 attendees, and in recent years, Cleveland Bazaar has added its presence to the Larchmere Holiday Stroll due to a request from the merchants association there.
“When you provide a great experience, though, word spreads. It’s a lot more fun to shop in a building filled with artists and music and food trucks for handmade items than it is to trudge to the mall,” says Okey, referring to the 78th Street Studios show.
Indie craft shows tend to draw crowds as diverse as the items they sell, a phenomenon Okey says she sees play out through Cleveland Bazaar.
“We have such a range of customers – suburban moms and urban guys, young and old, all income levels – we don’t aspire to serve just a ‘hipster’ crowd, for lack of a better word,” says the 38-year-old resident of Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood. “Yes, a lot of the vendors and products we have are edgy, but as I can tell you from my days of co-owning a retail store here, it was the white-haired ladies who bought most of the swear-word-encrusted cross-stitch kits we stocked, not the young ‘skinny-jeaners.’”
Photo: Michael C. Butz | Handbags from Liz Sabo Handcrafted Bags are displayed