Northwest Reno business owners creating association

Even though Tom Stevenson and Lori McArthur opened their Fine Vines cheese and wine store in northwest Reno more than two years ago, they're still amazed by the number of first-time shoppers who say they never knew of the store's existence.

And it's not for lack of trying on the part of Greg Martin, who runs an Edward Jones & Co. investments office across a parking lot from Fine Vines. He's been taking clients to the wine-and-cheese shop at every opportunity.

Now Martin and Stevenson are planning to take their efforts to build exposure for northwest Reno businesses their own as well as hundreds of others to another level with the creation of a new business association.

The Northwest Reno Small Business Association targets a September kickoff after about six months of organizational meetings.

The group, Martin says, plans to launch advertising campaigns as well as a Web site to let consumers know about the variety of retail and professional services available in northwest Reno.

And Stevenson says he believes the association also can serve as a sounding board for business owners in the area.

"We're all dealing with the same problems," he says. Neighborhood-based groups can be particularly effective, he says, because they are close to their members.

The Northwest Reno Small Business Association will serve businesses through much of area extending north and west of the Keystone Avenue interchange on Interstate 80.

The group defines "small businesses" as those with 50 or fewer employees. Another possible definition of members, says Martin: "The owners know your first name."

The group currently has about 30 members dues run $50 a year and organizers are finishing up the paperwork necessary for the association to operate as a nonprofit organization.

Martin says the organizers hope to create an identity for the northwest Reno retail and professional community. Advertising efforts, he said, will target the hundreds of apartment units in the region as well as homeowners.

An early venture of the organization included a consumer show at a northwest Reno apartment complex at which retailers and professionals made their pitch to residents.

Another goal of the group, Martin says, is creation of a business environment that helps fill some of the vacant space that dots shopping centers throughout the neighborhood.

"We want more neighbors," he says.

The biggest challenge faced by the group so far, he says, is figuring how to schedule meeting of small business owners who often are so tied to their shops or offices that they can't break away for even a couple of hours.

One alternative under discussion, he says, is use of Skype videoconferences.