Upping local flair to Downtown Raleigh while maintaining its identity is Downtown Raleigh Alliance, which recently awarded $32,500 to four DTR retailers—Copperline Plant Company, Decree Company, Sugar Euphoria and Unorthodox Vintage—as part of its Storefront Upfit Grant.
Through the grant, DRA hopes to not only incentivize and attract new retail, restaurant and service businesses, but support pop-ups, and minority- and women-owned businesses; and encourage a good economic flow in DTR.
“We greatly admire the tenacity and creativity storefront business owners bring to Downtown,” says DRA VP of Economic Development Will Gaskins. “Their contribution brings tremendous value to our community, and we are thrilled to support them.”
In addition to that $32,500 grant, DRA has also awarded $60,000 in the last fiscal year to nine downtown storefront businesses in alignment with its mission to advance the vibrancy of Downtown Raleigh, as, after all, it takes a lot of cash to run a business. So, local businesses get a leg up, and we get another excuse to shop local!
“I have boot-strapped nearly everything about my business,” says Copperline owner Anna Grace FitzGerald. “Receiving the DRA Upfit Grant relieves some of the financial burden of starting the brick-and-mortar aspect of Copperline Plant Company and it affirms that my work is meaningful within Downtown Raleigh.”
The deadline to apply for DRA’s next round of funding through the Storefront Upfit Grant is Nov. 1—and a total of $57,500 in funding remains for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. Now how’s that for some #LocalLove?!
