Grand opening Saturday, January 24, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., at 239 North Avenue
Wakefield, MA — After a handful of recycled art-making events and a wonderful holiday sale, Creative Chaos Emporium is excited to pop-up in the retail space at 239 North Avenue in Wakefield! Starting on January 24th, the arts & crafts thrift shop is partnering with Project Pop-Up & the town of Wakefield to to help people on the north shore find surprising treasures to inspire new projects while also offering the opportunity for them to re-home creative items they no longer need.
Creative Chaos Emporium has already collected lots of lovely yarn, fabric, sewing supplies, pens, markers, colored pencils, craft books, beautiful papers, antique frames and vintage ephemera. All of these items and much more will be available on the day of the grand opening, as well as during regular hours Wednesday – Sunday. The shop will also be accepting clean, reusable donations of arts & crafts supplies during all open hours – donation guidelines and more at www.creativechaosemporium.com.
More about CREATIVE CHAOS EMPORIUM:
People (especially people who like to make things!) often have so much STUFF. It can be hard to find a place to donate arts & crafts supplies, so these much-loved items sometimes end up in the trash. We’re hoping to offer our community a place where they can re-home creative items they no longer need and find affordable, sustainable and surprising treasures to inspire new projects.
Creative Chaos Emporium was founded in summer 2025 by Wakefield residents Sarah Lynne Reul & Stephanie Hannus, along with Stoneham resident Janet Cohen. While hosting several recycled art-making events throughout Fall 2025 and a holiday sale with the Arts Collaborative of Wakefield, Creative Chaos Emporium collected many secondhand arts & crafts supplies, which will be available for sale at the new location at 239 North Avenue in Wakefield.
Donating supplies to CREATIVE CHAOS EMPORIUM:
Creative Chaos Emporium accepts donations of clean, usable, arts & crafts supplies. More detailed donation guidelines can be found on our website, but in general, we are looking for:
- Arts & Crafts Supplies: pencils, crayons, working pens/markers, usable paint (oil, acrylic, watercolor), glue/tape/adhesives, shells, beads, stickers, rhinestones, how-to arts & crafts books/magazines, blank sketchbooks, tools/supplies for printmaking, screenprinting, mosaics, bookbinding, paper craft, stained glass, jewelry making etc.
- Fibers & Fabric: clean, usable fabric of at least ¼ yard, yarn (full and partial skeins), tools & materials for sewing, knitting/crochet, wool felting, spinning, weaving supplies, etc.
- Upcycling Stuff: clean/empty paper bags/rolls/tubes, bottlecaps, small boxes, corks, glass jars (clean, label-free & with lids); office supplies, etc
- Other Interesting, Unusual & Vintage Items: small toys (tiny animals, miniatures/dollhouse items, cars, action figures, dolls, wood blocks, legos, wind-up toys), picture frames, tins, trophies, trinkets, marbles, dice, vintage photographs & ephemera, office supplies, cigar boxes, wooden crates/boxes, wooden card catalogues, drawers & displays.
Generally speaking, if it’s clean and usable as an arts & crafts supply, we’ll likely be able to take it. For the safety of our volunteers & visitors, we cannot take anything hazardous, illegal, smelly, moldy, mildewy or otherwise damaged.
Email hello@creativechaosemporium.com with any questions!
More about Project Pop-Up:
Project: Pop-Up is a publicly-funded initiative created to revitalize storefronts and commercial hubs. With financial and professional support, Project: Pop-Up offers retailers, designers, artists and food purveyors a chance to take their concepts for a brick and mortar test drive.
Over 100 emerging brands and entrepreneurs applied to the pilot program of Project: Pop-Up in the summer of 2021. Over 15 brands were thoughtfully selected for the opportunity. These forward-thinking businesses popped up for two-three months at a subsidized rate and were provided with a suite of resources to help seed their success. The pilot pop-up brands represented a local and diverse mix of business owners, with 100% locally-owned, 80% woman-owned, and 40% BIPOC-owned.
94% of the brands continued to actively grow through brick and mortar retail channels. 53% have converted from pop-up to permanent tenancy. Newton, Needham, and Melrose were thrilled to welcome entrepreneurs, artists, eateries and more to their downtown districts to fill otherwise dormant storefronts with vibrancy and vitality while driving traffic to each area’s core of locally-owned businesses.
More about the Creative Re-Use Movement:
Creative Chaos Emporium is part of a growing network of 200+ Creative Re-Use Centers across the country working to make sure that usable arts & crafts supplies stay out of landfills – so that they can be made into cool new creations by makers like you! Other local creative re-use shops include DIY Thrift & Craft in Concord, NH, Make & Mend in Somerville MA and Swanson’s Fabrics in Turners Falls, MA.
