In the
cold winter of 2001, a group of artisans and aspiring
businesswomen in the Bemidji, MN area began meeting with
dreams of developing a cooperative retail store. As time
went by, the group began to look to the world of
E-commerce to market their products, rather than the
traditional "bricks and mortar" storefront they had
originally planned. So, Heart of the Pines Marketplace
and Virtual Incubator was born.
The
city of Bemidji is nestled in the heart of pine country,
but truly, the heart of the pines is its people. What
started as a small group of aspiring business owners in
the Bemidji area has developed into a full-blown virtual
business community, that provides the opportunity for
individual businesses to share their products, their
services and their very dreams with a greater community
beyond the borders of their region.
Heart
of the Pines is both an on-line shopping mall and a
virtual incubator. It is a division of the Minnesota
Women's Business Center and has a three-fold purpose:
1.
To incubate new and/or expanding businesses by
providing a wide array of services.
2.
To provide an E-commerce ready site that provides an
easy and economical solution for businesses who want
to present their products/services to a greater
community via the worldwide web with a capacity to
house up to 50 individual businesses on a secure site
that is fully equipped for E-commerce.
3.
To effectively bring small businesses and customers
together. By shopping on Heart of the Pines
Marketplace, customers are supporting small,
independently owned businesses and at the same time
accessing unique, first-quality products and customer
service.
Heart
of the Pines Marketplace was developed by the
Minnesota Women's Business Center and is funded in
part by a grant from the Northwest Minnesota
Foundation, the Central Initiative Foundation and by
the U.S. Small Business Administration. The MWBC
provides training, technical support and business
planning assistance necessary to the success of
start-up or expanding businesses.
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