BAZAAR BY SHOPSCAD IS GIVING SAVANNAH A FRONT ROW SEAT TO SCAD TALENT

July 10, 2026

The interesting thing about BAZAAR by shopSCAD is not that it’s a store.

Savannah has plenty of stores. The interesting thing is what is hanging on the racks.

Walk through the space and you realize pretty quickly these are not pieces pulled from giant fashion houses or ordered from some corporate showroom trying to predict next year’s trends. The work comes from SCAD students and alumni at every stage of their creative journeys, from emerging designers exploring new ideas to established voices refining and expanding their distinct artistic visions.

That gives the place a different kind of energy. Not generic retail energy. Creative energy.

And it works because it understands that difference instead of sanding it down.

As the manager of the space, Ash Williams helps curate what ends up inside the store, selecting work from students and alumni in a way that keeps the shop feeling personal instead of overly commercialized. You feel that almost immediately walking through it. The pieces do not blur together. Every rack feels like a different point of view.

“THERE IS JUST SO MUCH TALENT,” SAYS SCAD DEAN OF FASHION, DIRK STANDEN. “PEOPLE WOULD CONSTANTLY ASK WHERE THEY COULD GET THE PIECES THEY WERE SEEING.” NOW THERE IS FINALLY AN ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION.

For SCAD student, Paige Swope, getting selected for the shop started with a professor recognizing where her work could fit.

“My professor reached out to me,” she says, “because she knew that my focus was fashion jewelry, and that’s sort of the sector that I want to go into. She thought that I would be a good fit for the store.”

That moment matters more than it might sound. Because for a lot of students and young designers, the hardest part is not creating the work. It is figuring out where the work belongs afterward.

This storefront gives it somewhere to live.

And because many of the artists featured there are still emerging, the store keeps a sense of experimentation that most retail eventually loses. Some pieces feel polished and refined. Others feel instinctive and a little edgy. But almost all of it feels personal.

That is what makes the store interesting to walk through.

You browse it the way you would a gallery or a really good vintage shop. You stop. You look closer. You start wondering who made something and what their story is.

Savannah actually feels well suited for something like this.

The city has always had a strong creative undercurrent, but much of that talent has historically existed behind studio doors or inside academic spaces. This store quietly changes that dynamic by putting the work directly in front of the public.

People can now physically interact with it. Try it on. Buy it. Support it.

And that changes the relationship between the city and the artists creating inside it.

“It’s a really great opportunity,” Swope says, “just because now my pieces can live in a space with fashion as well.”

That line gets at the heart of what this place really is.

Not just a store. A bridge.

A place where work that once existed only in sketches, studio tables, and classroom critiques suddenly becomes part of the city itself.

Ash seems to understand that balance especially well. The store never feels like it is trying too hard to announce its importance. It simply creates room for discovery.

And maybe that is what it really does best.

It gives Savannah a chance to see the enormous amount of creative talent constantly moving through the city while it is still evolving in real time.