Cleveland Rocks Shop
A retail store for local music and community and event gathering space
Located in the former Music Saves storefront at 15801 Waterloo Rd, Cleveland
We established a goal of $30,000 to get the Cleveland Rocks Shop up and running. The funds would cover occupancy costs, moderate renovations and repair to both the interior and exterior, purchase fixtures, a point-of-sale register and inventory. As of March 2020, $4,697 had been raised for the Cleveland Rocks Shop, and then the world changed. In 2021, more than $3,000 in additional individual donations were received. In 2022, Cleveland Rocks: PPF received a $5,000 donation from the 10,000 Watts of Holy Light Fund – a fund created in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation that gives donations to organizations that relate to Michael Stanley’s life.
Renovations began in 2022 to convert the former Music Saves storefront on Waterloo to house the new Cleveland Rocks Shop. In the fall of that year, the community got its first glimpse during the 2022 Waterloo Arts Festival in August. A small collection of local music and merch from bands performing at the festival were available for purchase during the event. That December, we hosted the very first live music event in the space with Collinwood-native Anthony Taddeo and later opened the space for a holiday pop-up shop to encourage shopping local during the gift-giving season.
In the summer of 2023, Cleveland Rocks: PPF hosted an online auction to help raise additional funding needed to permanently open the retail store. The auction featured more than 45 unique items, lasted 11 days, and raised more than $2,000 for the Cleveland Rocks Shop. This year to date, the Cleveland Rocks Shop has hosted 7 Professional Development Workshops and 2×4 Songwriter Showcases, with more planned this year. The workshops have brought in in experts like John Latimer and Kevin Borrowman to offer education and guidance on music-related topics such as microphone choices, effect pedals, revenue strategies, home recording studios and more. Directly following the workshops, our 2x4s invite 4 songwriters to perform two songs each from our Cleveland Rocks Shop stage. Our intimate listening room also has held four indoor concerts for our Waterloo Makes Music series during the colder months, including a Songwriters in the Round event. The Waterloo Makes Music artists included Morgan Mecaskey, Clare Feoreone, Taylor Lamborn, The Refresh Collective’s Dee Jay Doc, Jenna Fournier, Rob Kovacs, Bent String and John McGrail.
To help promote the space, these events and local artists, Cleveland Rocks: PPF began a series called Cleveland Rocks Shop Talks where we began recording video interviews with some of these artists in the Cleveland Rocks Shop. All events in the space have been recorded and/or livestreamed and can be found on our website and YouTube page.
In September 2023, we opened the doors of the retail store to the community during the Waterloo Arts Fest for a soft open. During this event, we introduced a special “Local Legends” collection featuring music and merch for Michael Stanley, as well as sold music and merch for local artists performing that day such as Afi Scruggs, Clare Feorene, AJ and the Woods, and John McGrail. We hope you will shop and support the growth of this much needed community asset.
