Community members voice concerns about future of The Shops at Sharp End after ARPA funding dries up
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Community members gathered Thursday to discuss the future of the Shops at Sharp End, a retail incubator created to support local entrepreneurs in one of Columbia's most historically significant Black neighborhoods.
The meeting comes as organizers face a looming funding deadline and growing questions about whether the current model adequately reflects the history and legacy of The Sharp End District.
From the early 1900s through the 1960s, the Sharp End business district stretched along Walnut Street between Fifth and Sixth streets and served as the cultural and economic heart of Columbia's Black community. The area was home to a wide variety of Black-owned businesses, including restaurants, pool halls, automotive shops and other locally owned establishments before much of the district was displaced during urban renewal efforts in the late 1960s.
In 2024, community organizations launched The Shops at Sharp End at the intersection of Fifth and Walnut streets as a "retail incubator" designed to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses while honoring the area's history.
The project is managed through a partnership between Regional Economic Development Inc., The District and Central Missouri Community Action.
"It's kind of a gentrified area that is in our downtown district. And we really want to make sure that, one, the history is still alive here, and look at how we can help bring up young entrepreneurial businesses in our area and help them continue to thrive in our downtown area," Nickie Davis, executive director of The District, told ABC 17 News.
Davis said organizers envisioned the space as a "stepping stone" for entrepreneurs looking to transition into permanent storefronts.
"We wanted the Shops at Sharp End to be for entrepreneurs, be something that would be a stepping point or a second stepping point into a brick and mortar," Davis said. "For us, what did success look like? It was getting businesses in here to help them understand the next steps."
Since opening, the incubator has served 26 participants, generated approximately $46,000 in revenue and helped two businesses graduate into their own brick-and-mortar locations.
Still, organizers acknowledged the program has fallen short of some of its original expectations.
"We have had businesses graduate from this area and we've also had them not," Davis said. "We originally started out very optimistic on what could have been in this area, which I think was way too much. We were thinking we'd have 40 businesses in this space, all in a boutique-type setting. That was a little too much for us."
After reviewing similar programs around the country, organizers determined a more realistic model would support eight-to-10 businesses. The incubator currently houses seven.
Funding uncertainty has now added pressure to determine what comes next.
The program relied heavily on federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, which paid for management, educational programming and daily operations. Davis said organizers had expected those funds to last through September, but learned this year they actually expired in May.
"We knew that this was ending in September. However, we have found out this year from CMCA that it actually ended in May," Davis said. "So, that was a big other catalyst to get this program going. We need to hear from the community. We need to know what our next steps are."
Davis said CMCA is currently using reserve funds to keep the operation afloat through September.
"CMCA is still stepping up and paying for five hours a week to keep the shops open, but we still need to make those steps and make them soon so that we can have a plan for September," Davis said.
CMCA Executive Director Darin Preis said organizers have learned valuable lessons during the past year.
"Was it as successful as we would like? No," Preis said. "I would say I would love to have seen more success out of a lot of our entrepreneurs. But like I said, there were some challenges there that we hadn't anticipated."
Preis said those challenges included limited foot traffic and the fact many participants operate their businesses as side ventures and cannot dedicate full-time attention to them. Organizers said Saturdays have generated the strongest traffic and are likely to become a larger focus moving forward, along with additional pop-up events.
No funding commitments have been secured beyond September.
During the meeting, organizers outlined four potential paths forward: Transforming the space into a central community hub, expanding its role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, focusing resources on a smaller group of three to five entrepreneurs, or eliminating the dedicated storefront entirely and operating a cohort-based incubator centered on pop-up events.
Community members expressed concerns with both the current appearance and mission of the space.
Several participants argued the storefront lacks visibility and does not adequately communicate that multiple businesses operate inside. Others said the incubator does not authentically represent the history of the Sharp End District and questioned whether the current structure gives entrepreneurs enough ownership and control.
Mya McClain, owner of Mya's Gourmet Popcorn, said she had concerns from the beginning.
"When it first opened, I already had a brick and mortar. I was brought in as a way to kind of help establish what things would need to be there for entrepreneurs," McClain said during the meeting. "My concern was that there was it was not set up to be self-sustaining from the beginning."
Anthony Johnson, a Columbia resident, argued that some of the people helping oversee the project lacked a connection to the culture and history the space was meant to preserve.
"You did have people in there that understood what it was supposed to be. We talked about culture right?" Johnson said. "They understood the assignment. And you have people that are not of that culture micromanaging them and making the store be when it's not supposed to be."
Davis said community feedback will play a critical role in determining the future of the project and encouraged residents to continue sharing ideas as organizers develop a long-term plan.
"For The District, we are economic development, we are placemakers. We are lifting up our community in our district boundaries to bring life to whatever areas might need to be. This has kind of been a blighted area, an area that could have had so many other opportunities. And we know that we can absolutely help make this a thriving part of downtown Columbia again," Davis said. "We want to know what people want to see here, what they may have seen already that did or didn't work."
