At a panel discussion about women’s entrepreneurship yesterday, the owners of the West Side Market’s newest business and oldest business, both of whom are women, shared their entrepreneurship journeys, challenges, and vision for the market. The senior director of the Women’s Business Centers of Ohio also described systemic barriers to entrepreneurship and promoted resources available to women entrepreneurs.
The panel, which took place at The Lantern Room on the rooftop of Church + State apartment complex, was the second event of a seven-part “In the Market” series that the West Side Market is holding at various locations throughout the city. Tuesday’s panel and the five remaining events are free to attend. Guests had to buy tickets to attend the first event, which took place at The City Club of Cleveland. (Watch the recording of that event here.)
“We all love the market and really see it as part of Cleveland’s identity. But the market is so much more than a place to shop,” West Side Market senior strategist Jessica Trivisonno said at the event. “It’s a place where people start businesses. It’s a cheap place where people can access healthy and affordable food. It’s a way to further climate resiliency by shortening our food system. There’s so much good that West Side Market does, and we wanted to have this conversation series to really emphasize that.”
The speakers series aims to tell the “broader story of the market” at a time when many people are curious about what’s going on there, Trivisonno told The Land. The West Side Market is transitioning to nonprofit management. The city of Cleveland has owned and operated the market since its establishment in 1912, but a newly formed nonprofit, the Cleveland Public Market Corporation, is taking over operations of the public market, with the city retaining ownership. The goal is for the nonprofit to take over as the operator in the fall, Trivisonno said at the event.
The West Side Market is still figuring out the details of how it will recruit potential tenants, including businesses owned by women and other underrepresented entrepreneurs, Trivisonno said. The market has a vacancy rate of 32%, up from 7% before Covid. As of September 2022, the indoor Market Hall area had a vacancy rate of 22%, while the outdoor Arcade area, which holds produce businesses, had a vacancy rate of 49%, according to the phase 1 report of the market’s master plan.
A goal of the Cleveland Public Market Corporation is to support diverse, small locally owned businesses, and Tuesday’s event showed how the “market has been a resource to small business owners, especially women business owners, and emphasized the opportunity for growth in the future,” Trivisonno said.
About two dozen of the 70 businesses at the West Side Market are owned by women, Trivisonno said, including the two businesses featured at last night’s event: The Home Pantry and Czuchraj Meats.
Stories behind the market’s oldest business and newest business
Czuchraj Meats is the oldest business at the West Side Market. Amanda Chucray inherited the business from her grandparents, who came from Ukraine during World War II. They met in Cleveland and started their business in the 1950s. Chucray remembers helping out at the market with her family every Saturday, she said at the panel. Now, she’s the owner of the business, which sells smoked meats including kielbasa, jerky, and smokies.
She has focused on continuing her family’s legacy through the business, “making sure this hard work and legacy that my family has built is sustained and even grown on,” she said.
Alaina Caruso started The Home Pantry in 2017, selling what she describes as “shelf staple goods,” like jams, seasoning, soup mixes, and cookie mixes at farmers markets. In September, she opened a fresh deli at the West Side Market, making The Home Pantry the newest business at the West Side Market. The market has felt like home from the start, Caruso said at the panel.
“It’s probably just automatically home for you,” she said to Chucray, who said the sense of community at the market is a main reason she chose to stay there. “Even since we opened just a couple months ago, it has very quickly felt that way. It’s very homey. It’s a very comfortable space. For me, it just kind of made sense.”
Creating opportunity for entrepreneurship
Nicole Liatos, the senior director of the Women’s Business Centers of Ohio, a program of the Economic & Community Development Institute (ECDI), was a panelist as well. The center helps women entrepreneurs access capital and provides them with training and support.
Gender bias can make it harder for women entrepreneurs to “get their foot in the door” and secure funding, Liatos said. A 2019 study by HSBC Private Banking found that 35% of women entrepreneurs who responded to a survey reported facing gender bias when pitching their business plans to investors, including investors asking them invasive personal questions or primarily focusing on the negative aspects of their business plans.
Liatos’ organization coaches entrepreneurs on ways to challenge gender bias when they encounter it, in addition to providing technical training to help entrepreneurs develop their business plans and become capital-ready.
One way to champion women entrepreneurs is to amplify their voices, Liatos said. “Celebrate one another, talk about entrepreneurship, and celebrate those wins,” she said, encouraging Caruso to own and promote the fact that her products are sold in more than 30 states.
During the audience Q&A, Peggi Cruz, who owns Cha’firo, a restaurant on 2886 W. 25th St. that sells vegan and vegetarian Puerto Rican food, asked how to tap into entrepreneurship opportunities at the West Side Market.
In response, Chucray said that she hopes the intake process will be updated to be more accessible. Trivisonno directed interested business owners to visit the FAQ page on the market’s website, where the application form is linked.
After the event, Cruz told The Land that her goal is to become a vendor at the West Side Market, where she remembers her mom shopping. She said she’s following in the footsteps of her mom, who sold food out of her home and was an entrepreneur before Cruz knew what an entrepreneur was.
Click here to watch the recording of the first event, which featured Mayor Justin Bibb and leaders of three public markets across the country. Visit this page for the topics, dates, and locations of the five remaining events in the West Side Market speaker series. To learn more about how to become a vendor at the West Side Market, call the management office at 216-664-3387 or fill out this application form. See the website’s FAQ page for more details. You can also email the market at westsidemarket@clevelandohio.gov. Learn more about the Women’s Business Centers of Ohio on its website.
Keep our local journalism accessible to all
Reader support is crucial as we continue to shed light on underreported neighborhoods in Cleveland. Will you become a monthly member to help us continue to produce news by, for, and with the community?
P.S. Did you like this story? Take our reader survey!
