Small Business Startup News

First Time Entrepreneurs Fill Vacant Storefronts

Written by Jenna Weiner
Published: 11/20/2009

Young entrepreneurs take advantage of empty storefronts.

While reports of business foreclosures dominate the news, for entrepreneurs vacant storefronts could mean opportunity. Brookline's Coolidge Corner, a business district of the Boston greater area, is filling with first-time entrepreneurs' ventures.

Entrepreneur New Business Owner

According to the Brookline Tab, the neighborhood had 40 empty retail locations at the start of fall; now, the majority of those stores have been filled by some unlikely SMB owners. Roger Lipson, the former president of the Brookline Chamber of Commerce, characterizes the new owners as "people who [were] thinking about being an entrepreneur, and suddenly they see a vacancy and they go for it."

Many of the first-time entrepreneurs are committed to providing "recession-friendly" rates and services. Their down-to-earth approaches are keeping their businesses afloat in trying times; Berry Freeze owner and first-time entrepreneur Paul Cheung told the paper he does well because his inexpensive desserts might be the most competitively priced in the region.

The new business owners of Brookline's main street demonstrate the growing trend for young people to start up first time businesses. The Kauffman Foundation reports that more college students are studying entrepreneurial tactics with the hopes of starting their own businesses.

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