BUTTE — The doors of the historic building located on East Galena Street are not quite ready to be opened just yet, but when they do this fall, the community will get a new retail experience in Uptown Butte.
"What I love about it is that we are able to be autonomous but still operate within the community," says Gilmore McLean, a small business owner.
McLean is a leatherworker at Work in Progress, a studio and retail space within the Cleveland Market, a collective retail space taking shape. In McLean's space, you might find her at her workbench fixing shoes or tooling belts, but you’ll also be able to browse goods from Montana artists that will be featured in her shop.
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Down the hall, McLean turns on the lights as she points to other shops. "This is going to be the rear entrance to Dancing Rainbow," says McLean.
Along with the organic grocer, McLean's storefront is one of half a dozen small businesses, including food vendors, clothing stores, and a hair salon, that will fill the historic space that once housed a Cleveland automobile showroom in the early 1900s. Later, the garage was home to the original Leskovar car dealership.
"It’s a way to not only preserve history but really appreciate the history of it," says McLean.
She says the goal of the collective is to offer goods and services that are not currently available in town.
"We all have a similar goal, which is to create a space that’s comfortable to hang out in Uptown, and I don’t think we could ever have too many of those, and we certainly don’t have enough of them right now," says McLean.
The Cleveland Market has a tentative opening date of late August or early September.
