There's a lot happening at the intersection of Pittsburgh Avenue and 1st Street in Milwaukee's Walker's Point neighborhood: coffee roasting, axe throwing, burger smashing, a museum full of heads bobbling and now, a new community-enhancing biz that's providing opportunity for fresh entrepreneurs.
BizStarts' Community Market, 161 S. 1st St., opened quietly at the end of October in the high-profile space that once housed a night club, Rumors, and later, a jazz club, Michai's Quiet Storm.
The Market is a pilot project featuring a cafe, retail shop and workspace where hopeful entrepreneurs can introduce their products to the public. Plus, they receive feedback and education from BizStarts, the non-profit organization behind the endeavor.
BizStarts provides coaching, one-on-one mentoring, business connections and now actual shelf space for fledgling entrepreneurs. Dan Steininger – the founder of the organization as well as the grandson of former Milwaukee mayor and yellow bridge namesake Daniel Hoan – started the organization in 2008. Since then, more then 1,000 entrepreneurs benefitted from the services.
Currently, there about 20 vendors represented in the 2,000-square, light-drenched, plant-filled space. Items for sale include plants, handmade clothing, jewelry, tea, snacks, cards, bags, pottery, candles, body care products and more.
"We give credentials, feedback and opportunities to entrepreneurs. And if something doesn't work, it's not over," says the president of BizStarts, Patrick Snyder. "We just go back to the drawing board and try again."
The cafe serves Isabella Coffee Beans which are sourced from Puerto Rico, roasted by Isabella Rivera, who also manages the market, and sold in bags or by the cup.
There are a dozen tables with chairs and with the purchase of a single cup of joe, customers can use the on-site conference space free of charge. (Inquire within for more information about rental. The website, which is under construction, will have online reservations.)
"Everything we have here is quality. Our mission is to showcase the best of what the people of Milwaukee can do and eventually get it for sale all over the country," says Snyder.
Here are eight more photos of BizStarts' Community Market, which is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
