“Women have an advantage in small business because it is so reliant on building relationships and following passions,” said Linda Glover, executive director of Divine Consign, a furniture consignment store at 904 Main Street. “Leases are less expensive, landlords are willing to work with you and people are out and willing to spend if you are offering good value.”
Alisa Tetreault, co-owner of the vintage clothing and furniture boutique Most Everything, said this growing community of female business owners has many women now moving forward with their own dream of store ownership.
“More and more women are going for their dreams and making it happen,” said Tetreault. “They are taking what they love to do and turning it into a creative, viable business that provides a need within the community.”
Tetreault said the revitalization taking place downtown has clearly been good for business, having recently moved Most Everything to a space at 815 Washington Street.
“We are in our new location which is more visible and has more foot and road traffic going by,” she said. “We have at least tripled our business from last year. The purchases being made are on average double what they were last summer, which is a good time of year for downtown retailers.”
A good portion of her success, Tetreault said, has come as a result of women business owners bonding together in a supportive role, rather than simply a competitive one.
“If I don’t have what the customer is looking for, we recommend other local options for them to find that specific item,” she said. “We want our customers to be happy, even if that means they find it somewhere else.”
Cindy Johnson, founder of Women in Networking (WIN) Northwest and marketing and event coordinator for the Vancouver Business Journal, said that now more than ever competition is taking a back seat.
“What I’m seeing at WIN events are women whose businesses are actually complementary to each other, so there’s really no sense of competition,” said Johnson. “It’s all about complementing one another and finding ways to work together.”
Customers will get the chance to experience some of that complementary support when ‘Beer Back Friday’ kicks off on March 9. Shoppers who spend more than $25 at participating retailers downtown will receive a voucher to walk around the corner and enjoy a pint of Mt. Tabor beer. In addition, a number of similar events designed to bring more shoppers downtown are in the pipeline.
“We are networking more, getting into each other’s shops and promoting all that is great in downtown,” said Tetreault.
