Dot group aims to give wings to local retailer
A group of businesses and nonprofits wants to give a retail startup a leg up on building a brick-and-mortar presence in Dorchester’s Fields Corner.
Fields Corner Business Lab, Social Good Marketing, SCALE Consulting, Lee Development LLC and others are looking for a local small business — with preference to those owned by a woman or minority — to move into an 850-squarefoot retail space at 1452 Dorchester Ave.
The chosen applicant will benefit from six months of free rent, followed by below-market monthly rent of $1,250 for five years; services and assistance including up to 40 hours of pre- and post-launch business coaching; and at least $50,000 of “low-cost, patient” capital for build-out/startup expenses.
The goal is to help incubate and launch an entrepreneur who otherwise would have high barriers to entry — access to affordable capital, and the complexity and timing of lining up a retail space, said Travis Lee, co-owner of the Fields Corner Business Lab.
“Most businesses, the day they sign a lease, they start paying rent,” Lee said. “But it usually takes six to 12 months for that business to actually open its doors and generate revenue. We aim to create a wraparound set of experts to walk side by side with the entrepreneur.”
Fields Corner, with access to an MBTA Red Line station, is very strong when it comes to restaurants and the food scene, said Matt Frank, executive director of the nonprofit Fields Corner Main Street.
“We could use a few more stores,” he said. “I would definitely want to see something that was beneficial to the local community, but also people who would travel for it … a destination.”