When it opens on September 1, The Nest will be yet another creative weapon in Tremont's arsenal to lure art-friendly shoppers to the neighborhood. Located in a storefront immediately adjacent to Edison's Pub, the boutique and gallery will feature an eclectic array of fine art, photography, jewelry and clothing.

Inventory will range from $6 jewelry items all the way up to $4,000 paintings. There will be products geared towards children, adults, and home d&eac... Read more >

When it opens on September 1, The Nest will be yet another creative weapon in Tremont's arsenal to lure art-friendly shoppers to the neighborhood. Located in a storefront immediately adjacent to Edison's Pub, the boutique and gallery will feature an eclectic array of fine art, photography, jewelry and clothing -- all locally produced.

What started out as a small printing company run out of a little office in Euclid by two guys with a background in graphic design and printing T-shirts, has blossomed into a booming print business, Jakprints, which has sprouted three sister merchandising companies: IndieMerch, IndieMerchandising and IndieMerchstore. Founded in 1999 by Dameon Guess and Jacob Edwards, Jakprints has leveraged the partners' artistic talents, knowledge of the music industry, and instinct for what cus... Read more >

Call it poetic justice: Through an innovative partnership with the Cuyahoga Land Bank, some of the lenders whose lax lending practices helped spur the national foreclosure crisis are now helping to address problems of abandonment that are rife in Cuyahoga County.

The Cuyahoga Land Bank, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to reduce urban blight and improve property values by acquiring foreclosed properties and either returning them to productive use or tearing them... Read more >

When Nora Egger returned to Shaker Heights after a decade in Europe, she was looking for her next career move. "I was completely lost," she recalls. Then she started to think about the flavor profiles of cocktails in Europe, compared to what she saw in the states. "Everything's pomegranate or mango or berries," Egger says of American drinks. "So I said, 'Why don't I do something with flowers?'" Egger started fooling around in her mother's kitchen and developed her Lounging Gou... Read more >

As the economic malaise enters its umpteenth year, many creative folks are using it as an opportunity to grab a little slice of the artisan marketplace. With or without day jobs, a new breed of craftspeople are cultivating home-grown companies by doing what they love. Some are eager to branch out, while others are just tickled to have a creative outlet.

Five women-owned businesses in Northeast Ohio have been selected by Springboard Enterprises to showcase their companies and participate in a networking program, Build it Big: Cleveland. The companies, selected for their high growth potential and track record of milestone achievements, will present their businesses at a showcase on September 14 at Key Tower. The five companies represent the diversity of enterprises in Northeast Ohio -- from retail and publications to business pro... Read more >

According to Robert Hatta, not everybody is cut out for the startup world. He should know -- as Vice President of Entrepreneurial Talent for Jumpstart, Hatta helps emerging companies find the right talent. "How do you know if the pace, pressures and pivots of a startup are right for you?" he asks in this guest column. "There was a time when I wasn't sure it was for me."

Mike Belsito and Bryan Chaikin sprouted a business idea after a death in Belsito's family. Both were working at Findaway World, a digital products company, when Belsito's cousin died and he went through the arduous process of planning a funeral. The two started talking about how difficult it is to find the right funeral home in a time of crisis... and an idea was formed. They started FunerAlly, an online resource for selecting the right funeral home.
"It's nearly impossib... Read more >

When John Stahl launched LeanDog, his now four-year-old software development company that has grown to 34 employees, he was looking for a space that would stretch his clients' minds and embody the expansive thinking LeanDog tries to instill.

He found what he was looking for in a former Lake Erie barge, which dates back to 1892 and was last used as the floating restaurant Hornblower's. "We help companies envision who they want to be," says Stahl. "With a view of the train... Read more >

BlueBridge Networks in Cleveland and Bluemile in Albany, Ohio, have joined forces to offer a virtual powerhouse in data storage and recovery services. The joint venture offers the most robust, scalable and secure cloud computing platform with state of-the-art architecture and service delivery for companies and organizations. The $11 million investment lets the two data centers easily provide cloud computing to large companies nationwide. Data can be passed quickly between Clevel... Read more >

When a tree falls in the city of Cleveland, it gets trucked off to a facility that reduces it to mulch, which is then dyed an offensive shade of red or black and ultimately laid to rest on somebody's prized flower bed. It is a crime not only upon nature, but to Dean Heidelberg, owner of Metro Hardwoods. As the operator of one of this country's only urban sawmills, Heidelberg is on a mission to rescue as many trees as possible.

With the recent opening of the Urban Orchid, a new flower and gift shop located at 2704 Bridge Avenue, an empty storefront has been filled and a new business has been added to Ohio City's artisan economy.

Owner Brandon Sitler describes the Urban Orchid as "a small gift boutique and full-service flower shop that offers custom arrangements and delivers flowers throughout Cuyahoga County -- and anywhere in the world, really." The cozy, 400-square-foot space boasts an open f... Read more >

Many a native Clevelander wears his or her hometown pride on their sleeve. Now, a new shop in North Collinwood's Waterloo Arts District is helping them do that in style.

In recent years, the T-shirt, once a ubiquitous symbol of hometown or team pride, has been transformed into a hip, ironic fashion statement. Nowadays, cheeky tees celebrate a city's attributes, quirky mistakes and even inferiority complexes. (Witness the proliferation of Cleveland T-shirts referencing th... Read more >