Over 30 women-owned businesses in Covington will be showcased in the inaugural Aviatra Accelerators Woman-Owned Businesses Crawl.
Starting on Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m., attendees can visit many featured businesses, including retail shops, bars, restaurants, manufacturers and service providers. Participating businesses will have a display poster in their window and a sidewalk dot sticker outside their door indicating their inclusion.
“As an entrepreneur, you’re always looking for ways to make good connections with other businesses. But you’re so busy running your own business, it’s hard to get out to meet with people,” said Catrena Bowman, owner of Inspired Fashion. “The Women in Business Crawl has given us the opportunity where the guesswork has been taken out of finding other businesses to connect with and bringing us all together.”
With the purchase of a $20 wristband, attendees will be provided with a map, granted access to businesses offering discounts and refreshments, and be entered for a chance to win raffle prizes and other gifts. As of now, there are over 200 shoppers who have bought in. Some businesses are setting out wine, water, hors d’oeuvres and light refreshments to attendees.
Jill Morenz, executive director of Aviatra, and her colleagues came up with the idea for a business crawl after realizing the amount of women-owned businesses per capita in Covington.
“We (Aviatra) were talking about the number of women-owned businesses in Covington and when we started listing them, we realized that just in downtown and MainStrasse, there are more than 40,” Morenz said. “We thought, ‘how much fun would it be to do to do a crawl?'”
Michelle Tibbs, co-founder of Grainwell Boutique, told LINK nky she thinks the Crawl will help increase her business’ visibility with potential customers outside of her usual Covington market.
“We do feel like Grainwell in the Northern Kentucky community and Covington, but there are a lot of people who don’t know us and so we are always excited to increase our visibility and really get our name out there more,” Tibbs said. “I know this event will pull people from Cincinnati to Covington. Getting people to see all the different businesses that Covington has to offer will be a big plus as well.”
Stacey Vest, co-owner of East to Vest Productions, an haute couture shop specializing in creating costumes, wigs, and headpieces for theatre, drag shows and art installations, said the Crawl could expose more people to the artist’s work featured in her storefront.
“I bring people in here (East to Vest Productions) to show off other artists,” Vest said. “I like to spread the word and expose people to everything that’s out there because sometimes we find ourselves living in a bubble.”
If all goes well on Sunday, Morenz told LINK nky she hopes to export Aviatra’s Women-Owned Businesses Crawl to other Greater Cincinnati neighborhoods in future years.
“We are hoping to do it every year and we may in fact take it to other neighborhoods in the Cincinnati area,” Morenz said. “Other walkable, cute neighborhoods with local business districts have women-owned businesses. We may be able to bring the Crawl to those places as well.”
The full list of participating businesses includes: Alchemy Aesthetics, Alexia Zigoris Coaching, Arden & Gold, Coda Co., Cooler Keg, Covington Yoga, Crafts & Vines, East to Vest Productions, Funke Real Estate Group, Golden Gelato, Grainwell, Greenline Salon, Gumdrop, Handzy Shop + Studio, Honey Child Artisan Pops, House of Beauty, Inspired Fashion, Kentucky Botanical Co., MK’s Totebags & Monograms, OKOTA & Studio O, Painted Bread Marketing, Peachy & Vintage, Purple Paisley Local Artisan Shop, Revival Vintage Bottle Shop, Rich’s Proper Food & Drink, Second Story Bar, Smith Law, soHza sister fair trade boutique, Stitch Yarn Studio, The Globe, Up Over Bar, and Vivify Counseling & Wellness.
