One elementary school-aged girl gripped a lock-and-key set, turning it over in her hands as if testing its purpose.

“I guess I could put it on my suitcase,” she said. When asked who wouldn’t be allowed to open it, she didn’t hesitate: “Anybody!”

Moments later, she walked out of the store without paying.

That’s how it works here.

Boxes filled with donated art supplies line the sidewalk outside Free Oakland UP in Oakland on Jan. 24, 2026 (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)

In a city grappling with rising costs and displacement, Free Oakland UP offers a hybrid model of mutual aid and art: a storefront where goods circulate freely, customers pay what they can and community interaction is as central as the items themselves.

“The ‘UP’ stands for Utopian Project,” said Jocelyn Meggait, an artist and the founder of Free Oakland UP. “Wouldn’t it be great if everything was free — your housing, your medical, everything?”

From art experiment to Oakland storefront

The store reflects Meggait’s background as a social practice artist — someone who builds experiences rather than physical art pieces. The idea first took shape nearly 15 years ago, when she was pursuing her Master of Fine Arts at Mills College in Oakland.

“I did start it out as a response to the economy,” she said. “After the crash in 2008, everyone was freaking out.”

Jocelyn Meggait, the creator of Free Oakland UP, poses inside the store where donated items are sorted and future art projects are developed in Oakland on Jan. 24, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)

For her master’s thesis, she created a “free pile” inside the school’s art museum — a curated installation where visitors could take one item, no more.

“I liked the idea of it being in a gallery or museum where you’re not allowed to touch anything,” she said, “let alone take something for free.”

That one-item limit was intentional. It forced visitors to weigh their choices and needs — whether they wanted to walk away with a piece of art or a mug. For Meggait, the project extends beyond that single choice.

An ongoing project by artist Jocelyn Meggait, the creator of Free Oakland UP, hangs inside the space in Oakland on Jan. 24, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)

“It’s about the economy, and it’s about the environment — keeping stuff out of the landfill, reusing, upcycling, the whole circular economy of it,” she said.

After graduate school, Meggait expanded the concept into pop-ups across California, bringing the free-store model to places like Lake Tahoe and Venice Beach. In 2014, she settled on a permanent storefront in Oakland.

“When I found it, I was so excited,” she said. “The neighborhood is great because [this area] needs something to get the community out and get people talking to each other.”

A third space in a city under pressure

Free Oakland UP sits in a quiet strip mall near an ice cream shop, an auto repair shop and a bodega. Meggait’s operation runs on small donations from customers, arts grants and plant sales, but she said it’s been hard to maintain.

“The business model has changed just because I’ve had to adapt to paying rent and my rent has just been raised,” she said, adding that now the shop is open an extra day in order to afford the rent.

Jacques Lafontant, a frequent patron of Free Oakland UP and Oakland resident, holds a copy of his favorite book, “The Story of the Exposition,” inside the store in Oakland on Jan. 24, 2026. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)

Oakland has faced a deepening affordability crisis for years, with its unhoused population doubling over the past decade.

A 2021 Stanford report found that East Oakland experiences some of the highest levels of financial instability and disinvestment in the region.

Here, Free Oakland UP stands out — a quirky, kooky, joyful space where people can find objects and community.