Clevo Books to Rebrand as a Maker Marketplace

Clevo Books, the downtown speciality bookstore that once sold works in translation, is soon reopening as the Clevo Book Collective just about a month after it closed in July.

The store will be a rebranded maker marketplace with capacity for up to 24 vendors to sell their goods on rented shelfspace.

Owner Cathryn Siegal-Bergman’s decision is her bet that she can reboot Clevo in a way that better taps into retail that Downtown residents and visitors may be looking for.

And bring more foot traffic in general to the storefront in no man’s land between East 9th and Playhouse Square.

“I think a retail collective brings more to offer somebody who might be on foot in those particular districts,” Siegal-Bergman said in a phone call. “And acts more as a bridge between them.”

Starting Wednesday, Siegal-Bergman is on the hunt for vendors with creative takes on household goods including clothing, jewelry, candles, ceramics, specialty foods and stationary. She’s also looking for fellow bookstores to sell their books alongside hers.

Clevo’s rebirth comes during a complex time for Downtown Cleveland stores. After 11 years in business, the Heinen’s blocks down from Clevo closed on July 31. But Downtown saw a net gain of 12 other businesses last year, Downtown Cleveland, Inc. reported.

Visitors generate 70 percent of all retail spending downtown, a 2023 study by Streetsense found, with downtown households generating a slim three percent of those sales. The same report found those residents, although scattered throughout the two-mile area, wish they had more options to pick up home goods, clothes, toiletries, pet supplies and beauty items.

If Siegal-Bergman is to succeed with Clevo 2.0, she’ll have to try and wrangle in a slice of that business.

And literally get them in the store.

“The traffic is there; the foot traffic is already downtown,” she said. “We have 759,000 people here weekly. The question is really what strategies can we employ to get their attention?”

Maker marketplaces have had their reputation tarnished in the past few years with some local bad apples such as Northside Marketplace and Made Cleveland.

Siegal-Bergman said she hopes to overcome skepticism and excite potential creatives with a totally transparent model of business, with a payment system showing upcoming dues every two weeks. Vendors can choose from five tiers of spaces with monthly rents ranging from $25 to $1,800. Vendors will pay a sales commission.

“That’s really the problem right now is that retail is so scarce downtown that people don’t have enough faith that it can work,” she said.

“So, this is an attempt to invite some of those businesses back downtown at a scale they can afford,” she added, “and try to utilize some of this square footage that is available.”