Meet Ingrid Macon, Detroit Teachers’ Store CEO

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Retail Bootcamp Graduate and Kickstart Award winner Ingrid Macon, owns the only pre-K through 12 educational retail center in the city of Detroit. After traveling to surrounding cities for years to purchase supplies for her classroom, this teacher turned CEO decided to attend Retail Boot Camp and open a store to fill the need. Click the link below to watch a video of Ingrid discuss her motivation behind Detroit Teachers’ Store and experience in Retail Boot Camp.

Design Guide: Neighborhood Business

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Design directly impacts the bottom line of the business, which directly connects to its ability to serve the community long-term. A business is rooted in its brand design, and each of the other design mediums speaks to each other – from the digital voice on social media, to the colors on the wall to the size of the table and the tabs on the website – to all directly to serve the customer. Which is why TechTown (has been or was) proud to collaborate with Design Core Detroit and its network of design professionals on creating the Design Guide for Neighborhood Business to help brick-and-mortar businesses, from pop-up to permanent, think about design for their business in an intentional way.

Joy Community Receives First Sit-down Restaurant in 20 Years

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Fusion Flare Kitchen & Cocktails is the first full-service restaurant to open in the Joy community in almost 20 years. Located at located at 16801 Plymouth Rd., the restaurant features a fusion menu of cuisine from many cultures, including American and soul food. The lunch and dinner menu will offer a variety of meals including chicken Fusion Flare Chicken & Waffles, Catfish, and vegan and vegetarian options.

Steps to Launch and Grow Your Family Business

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Rivers Realty, a family-owned full-service real estate brokerage company, has been a part of Detroit’s small business community for over 40 years. Founder Ron Rivers started his company after seeing a need in the black community for property managers and experts in the real estate industry. Ron’s daughter, Lauren Rivers, joined the business in 2014 as their managing broker. Today, Rivers Realty serves clients throughout Metro Detroit and has become a model for family business in the city.

Benefits of Attending Retail Boot Camp? Grad Gary Mui Tells All.

Blocks, Blog, Featured

“The greatest benefit from attending RBC has to be the ecosystem and all the resources that are available to us to help us open our business,” said Gary Mui, co-owner of Alma Kitchen. Opening soon in Jefferson Chalmers, Alma Kitchen is a fusion restaurant that will feature food blended from the owners’ Mexican and Chinese cultures. Co-owners Gary Mui and Alicia Sanchez named the restaurant Alma because it means “soul” in Spanish. They believe that food is a universal language, and theirs comes straight from the soul, which is why their space will welcome all generations and backgrounds.