For Candra Squire, it all started with some greeting cards.
"Last April, I started making weird greeting cards to send to my friends, and I got a really good response," says Squire. She decided to take her cards to sell at a craft show and had enough success to want to do it again. "But there wasn't one to do, so I decided to make my own." She put together a group of vendors and held the first Salty not Sweet Indie Craft Show on September 5, 2009. "We made a beautiful show, but unfornately it was not a great day for it," Squire recalls. "It was Labor Day weekend and a really sunny warm day, so no one wanted to be inside, I guess." After meeting with a representative from Pop Up Cleveland to brainstorm ideas for another show, Squire decided she wanted to open a permanent location. "There are no exclusively handmade shops in Cleveland, and I know that people are really starting to understand the importance of buying local and handmade."
The result is Salty not Sweet at 15613 Waterloo Road in Cleveland, a resource for everything handmade. "There is a variety of jewelry, handmade soaps, candles, recycled journals, art, T-shirts and lots of cute baby things like leg warmers, bibs made of vintage T-shirts and teeny crocheted shoes." Squire has met many vendors through craft shows, or they find her through the Salty not Sweet website.
While Squire says the experience of assembling a lineup of great vendors for her shop wasn't much different from putting together craft shows, getting the physical space ready for customers proved a bit more labor intensive. "When we found this space, it was ugly! It was an old law office with blue shag carpeting, beige walls and a ceiling that was falling down." The new inhabitants knocked down a wall to let the sun shine in, put down a new floor, painted and made lots of small repairs. "Then we had to clear about 100 years' worth of old legal documents out of the basement."
Squire hopes the sweat equity will be worth it when she opens the doors on Saturday, March 6 at 6 pm. Along with the array of handmade finds, she'll also eventually offer letterpress services, including the line of greeting cards that started it all. Other favorite selections from her store include Terra Verde Soap & Candle Co. (owner Melissa Major is setting up her studio in the basement of Salty not Sweet), the jewelry designs of Barbara Baughman and Squeaky Queen Soaps.
After its grand opening March 6, Salty not Sweet will be open Thursdays through Saturdays during the late afternoon and evening; and Sundays noon to 6 pm.
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