AKRON, Ohio - The Retail Revival Akron program run by eBay sent 17 small businesses to New York City this month to help them reach new audiences.
The businesses set up at two locations: New Stand at Brookfield Place and New Stand at Union Square Subway Station. Many of the Akron business owners traveled to the Big Apple to set up their displays and enjoy a reception on Tuesday night.
While the Akron vendors returned home this week, their products will remain for sale at Brookfield Place through Aug. 24, said eBay spokeswoman Caitlin Talty.
More than 100 Akron businesses are involved in the eBay Retail Revival program, which is a partnership between eBay and the city of Akron. The goal of the program is to help the small businesses build online commerce through eBay's training and support, and to bolster Akron's digital "Main Street."
The Akron businesses' products can be purchased on eBays' Retail Revival Akron website. A location shared by all the Retail Revival Akron businesses was recently established at the Northside Marketplace in the Northside Arts District, Talty said.
One Akron business displaying products in New York this week is Whiskertin, a craft lighting company. Whiskertin, owned by Akronites Aaron Novak and Glenn Miller, started out building and selling custom lighting out of industrial materials, with no two fixtures same. The business has expanded to include apparel and hot sauce.
Whiskertin, a craft lighting company in Akron owned by Aaron Novak (left) and Glenn Miller, is showcasing products in New York City this month through eBay's Retail Revival Akron program.
Before the eBay program, the company struggled with building online sales, Miller said. But through the eBay training, they've learned how to optimize their online presence to appear more often in customer searches.
One Whiskertin lighting fixture that easily caught the eye of New Yorkers is fashioned from a skate board with light bulbs where wheels would be.
"Nobody had ever seen anything like that before," Novak said of the light fixture, which attaches to a wall and features a dimmer switch.
With many over-sized products, such as floor lamps, Novak and Miller also have a showroom in an Akron warehouse at 1145 Getz St. #306 in South Akron.
This week, eBay also launched a Taste of Akron Box, which contains a collection of products from several of the eBay Retail Revival Akron vendors.
All proceeds from the sale of the boxes go to the Well Community Development Corp. in Akron's Middlebury neighborhood. The boxes can be purchased for $35 on eBay, and ship free.
The Well works to reinvest in Middlebury's housing stock, bring jobs to the neighborhood and create a neighborhood identity.
Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday.