Goodbye, Spacedust...

Hello everyone, Michelle here with some sad news. This past week I made the extremely difficult decision to close Spacedust. As you’re aware, the shop has been struggling for a while now. Many factors have made it difficult to stay afloat, and I can point to a lot of things that made it hard, including my own failings, but the big catalyst has been the fact that I haven’t felt secure in this space for several months, when our latest lease extension expired at the end of May, and my requests for a subsequent renewal went unanswered. I will speak in more detail soon about exactly what went down in these last several months, but for now let’s just say I’ve been through hell dealing with building issues for which no one will take responsibility or be straightforward with me. So, I have chosen to take the first step toward releasing myself from this situation.

I am really really sad, because I still had so many ideas and so much I wanted to do here. In spite of everything we dealt with, I had endless optimism for this shop and the future I envisioned. And you all showed me in the last few months how much you all care and want to keep Spacedust alive. But what I’ve had to realize is – no matter how much faith I have in myself, the shop, and our supporters; no matter how many ideas I come up with to mitigate a slow sales season or make up for the loss of foot traffic; no matter how many corners I cut and even how much money we might make and how successful we might actually be – none of these factors can possibly change the toxic environment where Spacedust happened to land nine years ago. And perhaps it’s precisely this which has kept us from flourishing. I’ve done my best to keep things positive, and I had dismissed a lot of things that bothered me over the years – I bent over backwards and made myself uncomfortable because I believed in this dream and wanted so badly to keep it alive for all of us. And I still believe in it – but I have also rediscovered my self-respect, and I can no longer exist or let Spacedust exist in this toxic environment. I also can’t feel good asking you all to support us when it goes directly to perpetuating this cycle.

So I am also really happy to finally let go and see what the universe holds for me, to get back to more of my own art and creative expression. I hate to leave you all with the void which Spacedust may have filled… these spaces seem to get more and more rare. But I have decided to recuperate and replenish the energy I’ve expended over the last almost-decade. I opened Spacedust in 2014 to help uplift and support many other artists and creators, and in doing so gave up a lot of time to create for myself or to make art purely for art’s sake.

The brick-and-mortar shop will be closed by November 30, and I’ll be putting a lot of things on sale throughout these last few weeks. I’d like to sell off as much as I can, and whatever I’m left with I will continue to sell online & ship. It’s possible that I will find another space and re-open Spacedust someday, but I will need to see how it feels to let it go first, and make sure it makes complete sense if I am to bring it back. 

I have learned SO MUCH here and I am planning to keep making my own clothing with a new model that satisfies a fuller extent of my ideas; honors my time, skills, and expertise; and reduces waste. I’m excited at the prospect of having a little more freedom to be able to dedicate more time to my painting, music, and performance art as well. I will keep the Spacedust IG account to document and continue to discuss real issues that artists and real people face, and uplift & support other artists & creators.

So – if you are so inclined, please shop now and purchase anything you’ve wanted from Spacedust. Do some early holiday shopping if you can. I have a big huge pile of debt and selling off all the inventory and some fixtures by the end of November will help put a dent in that. If you’re so inclined, and as some of you have asked, you are indeed welcome to Venmo me – [at]michelle-jupiter – image of a purple-haired Powerpuffed me – and your contributions will help a ton. I know that I’m solely responsible for what I’ve done here, for making some mistakes for sure, and perhaps for holding on for way too long. It’s no one’s fault but my own that I’m in this situation. It’s been a long hard road, and the future is uncertain and bumpy – but what I will hold onto most is the smiles, the joy, the satisfaction of self-expression, the laughter, the inspiration that I feel so lucky to have been able to share with everyone who walked through this door over the last nine years. If you ask my imaginary financial advisor – it hasn’t been “worth it”. But my heart tells me otherwise. Together – all of you and me – we’ve made this amazing thing happen. Thank you.

– Michelle Rose, Spacedust proprietress
October 30, 2023