Hello from the Kapps!

Our Story as shared by Angela Kapp

My journey in early childhood started in 1989 when I was an intern at a child care program inside a homeless shelter in Minneapolis. I was young and just getting started, but that experience had a huge impact on me. I saw firsthand how important good, compassionate child care is, especially for families going through difficult times.

​

I continued working in child care while going to school and earned my associate degree from North Hennepin Community College in 1993. Over the years, I worked as a teacher, director, trainer, coach, and accreditation specialist. I also worked with NAEYC, traveling around the country visiting child care programs and supporting them as they worked toward accreditation.

​

In 2006, I started working with Head Start, and that also happened to be the year I met Keith. I later finished my bachelor’s degree through Metro State’s Urban Teacher Program in 2010 and my master’s degree from Concordia University in 2013.

When the Head Start program I was working with at the HHH Job Corps campus closed in 2012, I decided to take a chance. I submitted a proposal to open my own child care program in the space. It was approved, and in October 2012 we opened our first center.

​

That one center eventually grew into several locations.

​

Keith is originally from North Dakota and moved to Minnesota in 2003. After working at T-Mobile for 13 years, he left in 2017 to join me full-time in running our child care programs. Together, we operated programs in Saint Paul, White Bear Lake, Inver Grove Heights, and Maplewood.

​

Somewhere in the middle of all of that, we built a life together too. We were married in Las Vegas on July 7, 2007, and together we have seven children: Nick, Amber, Ashley, Courtney, Ryder, Nathan, and Alexis.

​

Then COVID hit.

​

At the time, we were operating four child care locations. Staffing became incredibly difficult, and we made the decision to begin downsizing. We closed our Inver Grove Heights location in November 2020, eventually transitioned our two Saint Paul locations to new owners, and in October 2023 our daughter Ashley took ownership of our final program, The Learning Garden in Maplewood.

​

After so many years of running child care centers, we were ready for something different. But I wasn’t ready to stop supporting teachers or walk away from early childhood education.

​

In May 2024, I started working part-time as a coach with the Center for Inclusive Child Care. Around that same time, Keith and I started talking about an idea we had for a thrift store.

​

We wanted it to be affordable. We wanted to reuse things that might otherwise be thrown away. We wanted teachers to have a place to find inexpensive classroom and craft materials. And we wanted whatever we created to somehow continue supporting early childhood education.

​

That idea became CRAFT—Creating Resources And Funding for Teachers.

​

We signed the lease for our little store in August 2024 and opened the doors to CRAFT & More Thrift Store on November 17, 2024.

​

When we opened, CRAFT was definitely a work in progress. We were filling shelves, moving displays around, figuring out what belonged where, and learning as we went. Honestly, we are still doing some of that today. But almost immediately, something happened that we hadn’t really planned for.

​

People stayed.

​

Customers would come in to shop and end up talking with us. They asked questions, showed us what they were working on, told us about things they were looking for, and shared pieces of their own lives. We started hearing things like, “I’ve never seen a thrift store like this.”

​

We also heard over and over again how much people appreciated our prices. Keeping things affordable has always mattered to us. We don’t want someone to pick something up, look at the price, and have to put it back because it costs almost as much as buying it new.

​

To us, that is what thrifting is supposed to be—finding something you need, or something you didn’t know you needed, at a price that feels like a bargain.

​

As the store grew, so did the donations. Along with clothing and household items, people started bringing us fabric, yarn, stamps, stickers, scrapbooking supplies, beads, paint, paper, and just about every other craft supply you can imagine.

And, being me, I started thinking about everything we could make with all of it.

That led to our crafting and upcycling space.

​

At first, people mostly stopped in to see what I was working on, ask questions, or watch a Cricut demonstration. Slowly, that grew into memberships and workshops. In September 2025, we welcomed our first member, and the next month we held our first official workshop—the Creepy Doll Workshop.

​

Since then, we have continued adding workshops and finding new ways to use the space. We want it to be somewhere people can try something new without feeling like they have to already be “crafty.” You can learn, make a mess, ask questions, and just have fun.

​

Somewhere along the way, we realized CRAFT had become much more than the thrift store we originally imagined.

Regular customers stop in just to say hello. People bring us things because they know someone else can use them. Teachers find classroom supplies they couldn't afford to buy new. Crafters find materials they can experiment with without spending a fortune. Someone might come in looking for a lampshade and leave with fabric, a stack of books, some buttons, and an idea for their next project.

​

We also joined Reuse Minnesota, which connected us with other people and organizations doing work around reuse, repair, and sustainability. On CRAFT’s one-year anniversary, Reuse Minnesota members toured our store as part of their annual meeting. That was a pretty special full-circle moment for us.

​

The more CRAFT has grown, the clearer our purpose has become.

​

We aren't trying to be a fancy resale boutique.

We believe in reuse, repurpose, repair, and rethink.

We believe useful things shouldn’t end up in the landfill just because someone doesn’t need them anymore.

We believe thrift stores should still be affordable.

We believe creativity should be accessible.

And after spending most of my adult life working in early childhood education, I still believe that when we support educators, we are also supporting children and families.

​

Today, CRAFT has clothing, household items, furniture, craft supplies, consignment items, workshops, upcycling, and a growing community of people who have made this little store part of their lives.

​

And now we are ready for the next chapter.

​

We have outgrown our little space and are looking for a larger home right here in West Saint Paul. A larger space would allow us to expand our clothing and furniture areas, offer many more craft and teacher materials, grow our consignment program, and create a much larger workshop and community space.

​

It would also allow us to do more of the things we have been dreaming about—free workshops and events for teachers, teens, seniors, people with disabilities, and children and families with limited incomes.

​

When I look at CRAFT today, I can see pieces of everything Keith and I have done over the years in one place—education, creativity, sustainability, family, community, and a whole lot of figuring things out as we go.

CRAFT is still evolving.

​

I think it probably always will be.

​

Every person who shops, donates, attends a workshop, shares one of our posts, tells someone about us, or just stops in to say hello becomes part of the story.

​

We are incredibly grateful for everyone who has helped us get this far.

​

And we can't wait to see what we create together next.