The Beginning — A Collaborative
Just Scribbles
Every big thing starts with a small, stubborn idea. Here's how The Collaborative at Cardinal & Clover came to be — and why it almost didn't.
It started, like most good things in Clare, with a conversation over coffee.
The building at Cardinal & Clover had been sitting there — beautiful bones, a little tired, full of potential. And there was this nagging feeling that it could be something more than just a collection of individual businesses sharing a roof.
What if it was a community? What if the people inside it actually knew each other, supported each other, sent customers to each other? What if the whole was genuinely greater than the sum of its parts?
That's the idea that became The Collaborative. Not a coworking space. Not a strip mall. Something warmer than that — a place where local entrepreneurs could grow their businesses without feeling like they were doing it alone.
The early days were messy and wonderful. People were figuring out what it meant to collaborate — really collaborate — not just share a hallway. There were awkward introductions and unexpected friendships. There were referrals that turned into regulars. There were moments where someone's slow Tuesday became someone else's best day.
We didn't have a playbook. We still don't, really. But we had a belief: that competition is overrated, and that the rising tide really does lift all boats.
This is the story of how that belief became a building full of people who mean it.