Made Local Marketplace closing in Santa Rosa before it turns 10

Made Local Marketplace, downtown Santa Rosa’s retail oasis for artists/makers and for shoppers of gifts and other products that aren’t mass-produced, was poised to celebrate its 10th anniversary later this year.

But it is not to be. The Fourth Street consignment store filled with art, jewelry and all sorts of gifts, wares and foods created by hundred of locals is set to close at the end of June.

“COVID really was the killer,” said co-founder Kelley Rajala, a pioneer in the region’s Go Local movement.

“But trying to run a retail store in the time of Amazon ... challenging is an understatement.”

Rajala and business partner Pam Dale hoped to sell Made Local Marketplace, which occupies a rented space formerly occupied by Cokas Diko home furnishings, a Sonoma County Arts Council gallery and, decades ago, a McDonald’s.

But Rajala said the shop had to shut down in March because of the pandemic, which “put the kibosh” on talks with a potential buyer.

Rajala and Dale figure the Marketplace, in which most of the items are sold on consignment, is worth about $125,000. “If an angel comes along and wants to buy the business, we would love to entertain it,” Rajala said.

Barring a sale, the store full of gifts, clothing, photographs, cards, soaps, candles, ceramics, fiber and wood works, kitchenware, foods and other locally produced items will close permanently on June 30. Dale and Rajala and their three employees have reopened it following a three-month shutdown and are hoping for robust sales through the end of the month.

Said Rajala, “We’re going to try to have a Christmas in June.” The loss of Made Local Marketplace, which opened in December 2010, will be a painful blow to many of the more than 400 North Bay makers and artists who might sell also at street fairs and markets or online, but have benefited from having their products displayed year-round in a real store.

“It was really an important part of the community,” said Lada Ladik, a Santa Rosa artist. She has her paintings displayed at several galleries, stores and wineries, but said the sales were best at the Marketplace, bringing in about $5,000 per year.

The artist said she’s aware that a good many of the makers at the store are older women for whom the sales income is important.

Beyond the economic importance of the Marketplace, she said, “It’s been this very cool place to visit and hang out.”

Lada and other vendors said Rajala is particularly talented at guiding and mentoring creative people eager to create something and to make a living or supplement their income by selling it.

Rajala “has been amazing,” said Emma Mann, founder of 3 Sisters Apothecary soap company. “She’s been really great at being an incubator for makers and small businesses.”

Mann and her sister and daughter today have a broad sales network for their artisan skin and bath products.

She said she’s sure the company wouldn’t be where it is without the early encouragement and counsel that flowed from Made Local Marketplace.

“I’m really sorry it’s closing,” Mann said. “It’s been a real resource for the community.”

Mark Bowden of the Tea & Trumpets organic tea company is another successful Sonoma County entrepreneur grateful for the help he received from Rajala and Dale when he launched his enterprise.

“The news of Made Local Marketplace’s closing saddens me,” Bowden said. “They gave me and many other local artisans an opportunity to begin and grow our businesses.” The makers who displayed their products at the store paid an annual fee, and upon a sale were paid the sales price minus a consignment charge.

Rajala and Dale said the store was doing well prior to the global pandemic. January sales were up 25% from the year before, and February sales were up 30%.

“We were feeling pretty good about where we were headed and feeling like this was going to be a good year for us,” Rajala said.

Since the store opened nearly a decade ago, about 900 makers have come in to display their things and speak with Rajala and Dale about ways to improve their products, packaging and price.

The makers, many of whom worked at the store, have included young kids, teenagers and individuals who live with disabilities.

“We have a community of creative folks,” Rajala said. “There are stories and people behind all these products.”

She said the Marketplace didn’t make a great deal of money, but it did well given how difficult it is for brick-and-mortar retail enterprises to compete with Amazon and other online merchants.

Beyond the income the Marketplace brought in, Rajala said, “We got a huge amount of love from our community.”

Amid the shutdown during shelter-in-place, she and Dale opened an online store.

“It just wasn’t enough,” Rajala said. Added Dale, “We tried so hard to limp along and just keep it going.”

The closing of so many stores during the coronavirus shutdown drove even more shoppers to Amazon and other online retailers. That phenomenon amounted to “just one giant leap toward that consolidation,” Rajala said.

As she and Dale prepare to close down and move on, Rajala said she celebrates “what we were able do to” and is hopeful for the future of all who love making and purchasing things that are local and unique.

You can contact Chris Smith at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.