Upcycle Canada - turning trash into treasures
Update:
Upcycle had it's Grand Opening on Feb 27th, and then barely two weeks later had to close down before they even really got started. Well, Dave and Jen just announced that they are opening up again!
We will reopen our store on Tuesday May 19th at 11 am!
We will have disposable masks and hand sanitizer in-store for customer use! We will be cleaning surfaces throughout the day for our safety and yours!
Looking forward to picking up where we left off pre-covid!
Come in and see our great upcycled vendor creations!
Wilma and I (John) visited our friends Dave and Jen Campbell at their newly opened store "Upcycle Canada" during their open house (and we just missed seeing Mayor Walt Sendzik!). Come look and discover with us:
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Video transcript
Wilma: I am at UpCycle, a brand new store that just opened this week with our lovely friends, Jen and Dave Campbell, who started the store after five years of building and hoping and dreaming, and here we are!
Dave: So it's all about upcycling . It's all about taking something that somebody doesn't want and making something new out of it. So the entire store, including the paint on the wall is all recycled and upcycled.
The paint that people take to the dump ends up being collected by this company and they reformulate it and then they sell it in retail environments, and we're going to be one of the retail stores for our Niagara.
John: And this is made where?
Dave: In Port Robinson.
John: Look at that! It's a local business, a local business supporting a local business, Yay!
Dave: We have items here from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. So it's not just about us, it's about all of the local vendors as well.
John: Look at all this stuff. And all of this is... Oh! Tell me about this stuff, Dave.
Dave: So we have a great couple that are moving to Guelph to work for John Sleeman building barrels for his brewery. And after the lifecycle of a barrel and they can't be used anymore, they take it and make furniture and create home decor, including those coat racks and stuff on the wall. That's all made from recycled products. Yeah, they're all handmade. They're all one of one.
John: Oh. And I remember hearing a pretty cool story about these. They didn't go to the dump. They came here and got turned into these. And if you look closely, even the hockey pucks are upcycled.
Dave: And these are from our friends in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and it is a job creation program that they have and they have people learning job skills and they take recycled hockey sticks from all over and turn them into new products. And we're the only store in Ontario to have this product. We're pretty proud of it. Any hockey fans out there? This is a perfect idea.
And we have cowbells. Let me grab one.
John: Nooooo! Actually, can you ever have enough cowbell?
Jen: No!
John: You can never have enough cowbell. Look at that... I have enough cowbell now.
Dave: You can take this to the hockey game. You'll be a hit.
John: You will either be a hit or you will get hit.
Dave: Taken into the boards.
Jen: We will have a table set up for people to do paint classes. We have maximum 12 can now participate at a time. It's $25. And we'll do everything from the beginning right through to show you how we process the signs.
This one started right here, if you want to take a look at that.
John: Turn that around for me a second. Would you? Oh, it's not on there yet. I thought that was... These people are right sincere about upcycling, folks. Look how you hang up these pictures. Okay. Can you identify that object? Yes. It's a pop can tab. Very cool.
This is so 2020 isn't it? This is, this is what people crave nowadays. Fantastic. Fantastic.
Well, congratulations. They've been open for one, two, three, count 'em, three days. This is day three. That's great. Wonderful.
Dave: When our friends drop by, it's always better. Thank you.
John: Come soon, and then you can later say "We knew them when!", because that's what's gonna happen. Congratulations guys.
You can visit Upcycle Canada at their store located at 486-500 Grantham Avenue, Saint Catharines, or call them at (905) 984-9603, or visit them online at the Upcycle Canada website or their Facebook page . Tell 'em John and Wilma sent you!