Located in Tampa — as the store’s name would suggest — Tampa Upcycle specializes in used art supplies such as paints, canvases, patterns, yarn and other tools. Many of these supplies are offered at a “pay-as-you-wish” pricing. This may seem amazing for a crafting business, but Tampa Upcycle has this policy in place as a way of encouraging indie artists in their area to create. Another of their missions is to keep these reusable materials out of landfills and instead put them in the hands of creative people. To this end, Tampa Upcycle has a wish list on their website of items they’d like to receive in their store. If you have these items, you can turn them in to Tampa Upcycle in exchange for a discount coupon to shop at the store. In addition to acting as a cheap source of artistic materials, Tampa Upcycle also holds classes like Sewing 101 and holds craft fairs. 

The "Shop Around the Corner" series is our chance to highlight great craft shops around the country. While we can't feature every store, we are hopping state to state to show off some of the best in craft retail. Would you like to nominate a shop to be featured? E-mail us at info@craftfoxes.com and let us know about your favorites.