Biz Buzz Monday: Consignment store coming to Dubuque mall

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Biz Buzz shares business tidbits from the tri-states. In addition to this update from Dubuque, we will share other developments in Tuesday’s edition.

A new consignment store for local artists and crafters to showcase their work is coming to the mall in Dubuque.

Mercedes Pfab intends to open Maker’s Market in the Kennedy Mall on Sept. 1. The market will be in the former location of clothing store Deb, across from Books-A-Million.

“It’s going to be a consignment store for any local makers, crafters, artists,” Pfab said. “Everything in the store will be handmade and local.”

For the past six years, Pfab has owned the art studio Captured on Canvas, which moved into the mall late last year. Since opening there, she said, she has seen more sales and people coming to do DIY projects, but her gallery space has been shrinking.

She said the new, 6,000-square-foot mall space will be a good place to store her gallery items, as well as feature other makers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri.

“We get so many people that ask if we do consignment (at Captured on Canvas),” she said. “I know how much work it is to do crafts and stuff. This is the perfect outlet.”

Pfab has 27 vendors who have filled out consignment forms for the Maker’s Market, and she hopes to be in the 30-to-40-vendor range.

She added that there will be a limit on how many vendors are selling items from various product categories, which include artwork, jewelry, apparel, textiles, garden art, soap, candles, wine, photography and refurbished furniture.

“There’s no long-term commitment, but I hope everybody stays,” she said. “We will definitely be rotating items and will hopefully have holiday décor with each season.”

More information on Maker’s Market can be found online at makersmarketdbq.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/makersmarketdbq.