2024 was full of growth, joy, and big dreams for Clutch Collective!

Our third full year in operation included major shop updates, a full event calendar, and so much more. We welcomed new artists to the shop, broke more than a few sales records (Small Business Saturday was our best day yet!) and together, celebrated local, creative community! Thank you for supporting this dream of mine and the dreams of all of our featured artists. Owning a small business of any kind isn't easy but it sure is rewarding, especially in a community like this one.

As a marketing professional (that’s my day job!) I love data. Keeping an eye on data helps me set reasonable goals and track progress throughout the year. So, here’s a brief recap of the past year with a few data pieces that stood out as noteworthy. Consider this an annual report-of-sorts.

Compared to 2023, the shop saw a 22% year-over-year growth in 2024, with 8,266 items sold from over 85 artists! Why does this matter? Well, for one - when you buy something from our shop, you are always directly supporting more than one small business. And for each small business you directly support, you are indirectly supporting dozens more - because small business owners tend to support other small businesses, give back to local charitable causes, and invest in their community WAY more than big box stores like Walmart or Amazon. So thanks for making an impact in our local economy AND supporting the talented artists we feature!

This year, we saw steady growth across our social media channels, especially on our Instagram account. I also invested in our shop’s Pinterest account, growing our engagement to an average of 23k monthly views. Additionally, we continued to regularly update our Google Business Profile to showcase our artists and upcoming events.

Why does this matter? Because our mission is focused on uplifting our artists - so more eyeballs on our accounts equals more people discovering their work! If you aren’t already, I invite you to follow along:

You can also help us grow by inviting your friends to follow us, sharing our posts, and engaging with our content. It means a lot to our artists when you comment on one of their pieces. We’d also love it if you tagged us (@clutchcollectivemov) when you purchase a piece of art - we’d love to see it in your home!

This year, we moved to a new email platform and updated our email newsletter, which typically goes out twice a month. We continued our monthly giveaway through which we gave away original artwork, limited edition prints, gift cards to the shop and other local businesses, and more. Crafting the shop email newsletters is one of my favorite things to do.

If you aren’t on the list, make sure you sign up here! Right now, over 8,600 local folks subscribe to our email list - and everyone who participated in our email giveaway received a little something in the mail last month!

I also invested more love in our website this year, making small design updates, publishing local stories about creative people and happenings in our community, and setting up the foundation for an online shop. Our web traffic increased significantly in 2024, thanks to the guidance Andrea Shirey provided me at the end of 2023.

In 2024, we had 16.8k pageviews and 11.2k visitors, a 195% increase from 2023! We were surprised to see that we had online visitors from 49 states (don’t you like us, North Dakota?) and 85 countries.

Why is this important? Because I want to do my very best to introduce more people to our featured artists and our website is one way people connect with the shop.

2024 was an exciting year for us. Here are a few highlights that go beyond the numbers:

We became a Partner for Inclusion with Artbeat Studio and are proud to now feature artwork from Artbeat’s artists, with 100% of the profits going back to the studio and its artists.
In support of public art in the MOV, we carry products where 100% of the proceeds benefit the Marietta Main Street Public Art Committee and the Parkersburg Floodwall Mural Project.
In partnership with artist Hannah Barreto, together we donate 25% of the sale of each Harmar Bridge print to the Historic Harmar Bridge Company. In 2024, we donated $239.
In June, we were one of 500 businesses in the country to be awarded a $10,000 Backing Small Business Grant from Main Street America and American Express. We used the grant to make major updates to our facade and interior displays.
Clutch Collective was honored to be awarded the Building Improvement of the Year Award by Marietta Main Street in October.
In October, we donated over $500 to CERFplus, BeLoved Asheville, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, and American Red Cross to help those impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
In November, we were featured in Ohio Magazine! Many thanks to Kelly Powell for sharing the story of our shop.
We hosted 22 events in 2024, including live music, artist pop-ups, and collaborative events with other downtown businesses.

Looking forward to 2025, my focus will be on sustainability, balance, and peace, both for myself and for the shop. I’m excited to deepen my relationships with our artists and furture uplift their work. I will continue to use the shop’s platform to celebrate the incredible creative community here in the Mid-Ohio Valley. I’m eager to plan fun new events and find new and meaningful ways to connect with this community. If you have an idea for a collaboration, I invite you to reach out! I’d love to hear from you.

Cheers to a lovely 2025, and here’s to a fulfilling 2025! <3