Paul Thompson
Northeast News

Several area businesses convened at the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Global Growth (EGG) Incubator last weekend for the new space’s first ever pop-up event.

Ad Astra (food and flowers), All Nations Fashion Store (clothing), Amelia’s Bloomers (designer boutique), Into the Mystic (gifts for a new age), Janet Kuemmerlein (art and jewelry), Suga Rae’s Children’s Shop and Women of Beauty (beauty parlor) rounded out the emerging businesses that brought their wares to the pop-up event, which ran from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. during its opening on Friday evening and 10:00 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday, August 19.

“I think it was very nice – we had beautiful music, a little wine, crackers and cheese, and just some good conversation about what the Avenue is becoming and how fantastic the Historic Northeast is looking and being,” said Bobbi Baker-Hughes of the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, of the pop-up’s opening evening.

Though the businesses packed up their merchandise following the event, local residents can likely catch them again at a future pop-up – if not at their own brick-and-mortar shops in the Historic Northeast. All Nations Fashion Store, the EGG Incubator’s first temporary tenant, has found a new home at 3624 Independence Avenue. Baker-Hughes expressed pride at how the husband-and-wife tandem of Abdiqadir Abdirahman and Rahma Suleiman have grown as business owners during their time at the incubator.

“It’s going to be a great beginning for them. They started here 90 days ago; we helped them with permits, licensing, some marketing, some promotionals, worked with them with media,” Baker-Hughes said. “One of the things they got was confidence, and that’s really something that’s very important when you’re striking out on your own.”

Now that the couple has hatched their new business, they will be able to bring that confidence a little further down the Avenue. All Nations Fashion Store will move into its new space on September 1, and the Northeast Chamber will celebrate with a ribbon cutting ceremony shortly thereafter. The impending move-out means that the chamber will be looking for a new tenant at its incubator.

“I think we’d like to see some makers and creators; I think this is a great place for them to start to get a foundation of a customer base that is different than what they currently have,” said Baker-Hughes. “Let’s create the international marketplace jump off point out of this space.”

Deb McClaren of Amelia’s Bloomers brought her designer clothing and jewelry to the pop-up event. She said the invitation came as a result of a simple conversation with Baker-Hughes.

“Bobbi came to my shop, and we just started talking. I said, ‘I’d like to give pop-ups a try,’ and she said, ‘Well, we’d like to give pop-ups a try.’ It was as simple as that,” McClaren recalled. “If this works out, I would like to do three or four of these a year.”

Baker-Hughes, for one, is excited about the prospect of keeping the pop-ups going. She encourages any prospective business owners to reach out to the Chamber to enquire about attending a pop-up event – or being the next small business to hatch out of the Chamber’s EGG Incubator.

“They just need to contact the Northeast Chaber of Commerce, either through email, nekcchamber@aol.com, or give us a call at (816) 231-3312,” Baker-Hughes said.