The Collective began a thoughtful transformation in February 2026 in alignment with maintaining the historic character of the building to create a new pottery studio operated by Wolf Craft School, alongside an art cafe designed to bring hands-on creativity into the heart of downtown, where you can order an arts and crafts experience along with sharable small plates and beverages.

The purchase marks both the end of an era and the beginning of a new chapter for the building that has served as a gathering place for generations of residents and visitors.

“We recognize how much J.J. Jackson’s has meant to Nevada City,” said Leslie Barbazette, founder of Wolf Craft School & Collective. “For nearly four decades, the store reflected the spirit, humor, and creativity of this community. We are deeply grateful for the stewardship of the Berliner family, and for the joy the shop has brought to so many people.”

Wolf Craft Pottery Studio

A fully equipped, mid-fire ceramics space offering classes, workshops, memberships, and open studio hours. The studio will expand the educational mission of Wolf Craft School, a nonprofit that has served more than 750 students and partnered with over 40 instructors in just its first year.

Wolf Craft Art Café

An unguided craft-experience café inspired by global “art cafés,” where guests can enjoy a variety of innovative drinks from a steam bar, wine and beer offerings, and light fare from local restaurants while creating small pottery pieces, glazing a piece from a local potter, mending, paint by numbers, knitting and more. The café will be operated by the Wolf Craft Collective and is designed to become a gathering place for locals and visitors looking for meaningful, hands-on creative experiences.

The art cafe and pottery studio were envisioned with the historic and cultural legacy established by David Osborn and Charles Woods, whose names will remain on the building. Osborn & Woods were not only artists and designers, but among Nevada City’s most influential early preservationists. The building was a workplace and a creative engine with an active, working studio that contributed to the cultural life of the city.

J.J. Jackson’s closing has stirred understandable emotion among longtime customers, and Wolf Craft acknowledges the significance of stepping into a building with such a beloved history. Leslie Barbazette spent significant time with Martha Meredith, who first opened J.J. Jackson’s in 1978 and sold it to Teresa Berliner Mann in 2006, learning about the history of the building and the vibrancy the store brought to downtown Nevada City during those early years.

“Spaces like this become woven into the rhythm of a town,” said Barbazette. “We approach this transition with respect for the past and a commitment to creating something that continues the building’s legacy as a place of connection, creativity, and discovery.”

As Nevada City has evolved in recent years with new residents, new artistic communities, and new forms of cultural engagement, the demand for interactive, skill-based, and experience-forward spaces has grown. The new pottery studio and café will extend Nevada City’s longstanding creative identity into formats that engage today’s audience while remaining rooted in the area’s artisan heritage.

Barbazette extends her warm appreciation to Teresa Berliner Mann and her family for their decades of service to Nevada City and for entrusting the next chapter of the building to another community-centered vision. Special thanks also go to Martha Meredith for sharing her stories of the past and for her support of Wolf Craft’s new chapter in a space that was so dear to her.