Pop Cycle

Quaint gift shop with an eclectic inventory of art & apparel made from recycled & repurposed goods.

About Pop Cycle

Pop Cycle is a Tucson gift shop with an eclectic inventory of art, apparel, and useful goods made from recycled, repurposed, and refurbished materials. Founded in 2008, the shop was created to promote local art made from "other stuff," while also supporting artists in the United States who work with recycled materials. Its Tucson store offers a place to browse distinctive gifts, wearable items, home goods, and artwork connected by an interest in creative reuse.

The shop's inventory spans a broad range of categories. Visitors can find apparel, handcrafted jewelry, leather goods and accessories, apothecary items, art and prints, stickers, pins and patches, children's goods, ceramics, home and kitchen wares, paper goods and novelty items, and books. Pop Cycle also features collections such as Pop Nest and Pop Vintage, along with work from its staff artists. The selection includes both practical and decorative pieces, including art prints, candles, ceramics, accessories, and clothing for children and adults.

Recycled and repurposed materials are central to the shop's identity. Featured examples include a soy candle made in a recycled Coke bottle, recycled plastic earrings, and decorator items created from found and junked materials. The shop's stated goal is to produce beautiful new things from old ones, reflecting an approach that treats discarded or overlooked materials as the starting point for design. Its focus also connects with Tucson's identity as a desert community with an appreciation for makers and sustainable causes. Pop Cycle describes this perspective as a response to living in an environment of scarcity, where rethinking how things are used becomes part of everyday life.

Pop Cycle includes two in-house brands created by co-owners DeeDee Koenen, Shannon Riggs, and Jennifer Radler. Riggs and Koenen are responsible for DDco Design, which creates decorator items from a variety of found and junked materials. Radler leads Monster Booty Threads, one of the shop's in-house apparel lines. The store also carries work by a wider group of artists and designers, including Marcy Ellis, Bottle Rocket Design, Alkema Arts, Heliotrope, and Ārya Tārā. This combination of in-house lines, staff artists, and other makers gives the shop a mix of products made through different approaches to reuse and small-scale design.

Located on Tucson's 4th Avenue, Pop Cycle operates as a brick-and-mortar shop and also offers online shopping and order pickup. The store is open for shopping seven days a week, with private shopping appointments available. Its team includes Libby Tobey, who helps shoppers find gifts or choose something for themselves. Visitors can expect an inventory that changes across art, apparel, accessories, and home goods, with the common thread of materials being reused, reworked, or given a new purpose. For those looking to begin, the shop can be visited in person, explored through its online store, or followed through its updates and newsletter.