In St. Louis, The Internet Association (“ The IA”) took a different approach in getting to know the city and its businesses with a business crawl! The IA identified thriving businesses in St. Louis to visit, which made for a fun-filled day. If you’re ever in St. Louis make sure to stop by the following places:
Stop #1 – Scarlett Garnet Jewelry: Founded by Garnet Griebel and Katie Miller (who met online through mutual friends!), SGJ releases a few lines per year with each piece carefully assembled by either Garnet or Katie. In applying intricate art to stainless steel, cooper, brass, and wood, SGJ’s goal is to create cost-conscious jewelry both fashion-forward and durable. While SGJ has a storefront to promote local business in the community, Katie and Garnet describe their SGJ’s online presence as its lifeline. Their jewelry is also available online at ScarlettGarnet.com and Etsy.com.
Stop #2 – STL Style Shop: Similar to SGJ, the Vine brothers founded STL Style Shop as an online business. With the help of the Internet, STL continues to expand and its cool, culture-conscious t-shirts are available to anyone across the globe.
Stop #3 – Fitness Factory: This fitness center located in the heart of St. Louis’ downtown bridges the gap between its brick and mortar business and the Internet by allowing its members to access mobile applications to build unique fitness regimens. Members can even learn more about Fitness Factory’s wellness program on LinkedIn.
Stop #4 – The City Museum: In a slight detour from our business crawl, we stopped by The City Museum. Words do not do this place justice. Only a visit will allow you to fully grasp the eclectic mixture of architecture and object displays with a playground and funhouse. While the City Museum is quite the attraction, its Museum Director attributes its growing business to its online marketing and presence.
Stop #5 – Pi Pizzeria: After working up an appetite, we stopped by this pizza restaurant founded in St. Louis but now has a national presence. While enjoying the pizza, we learned that its founder Chris Sommers came up with Sqwid, an application that connects business owners and their patrons through social-networking websites such as Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, and Yelp.
Stop #6 – T-Rex: From Pi Pizzeria, we head to our last stop of the day – the T-Rex, a low cost, flexible lease space for Internet-oriented entrepreneurs. T-Rex is the perfect location to mingle with young professionals and students to discuss Internet freedom and user empowerment.
