Hello! For those out there who don't know us, our names are Andrew and William. We are creative business entrepreneurs who have had a small business, Allegory Gallery, in Ligonier for almost 12 years. Our goal is to take what we learned in our first business and open a second business in the Johnstown, PA area that focuses on artisan-made jewelry. We found a beautiful, historic building that has a storefront on the first floor and a rental on the second floor. We have already lined up angel investors who are lending us the money to buy the building.
You can back our fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/new-creative-business-opportunity
Currently we are fundraising for startup costs. We started our first business on a shoestring budget and put in sweat equity to build it up to what it is today. With your generous help, we can lessen the financial burden on our existing business and can hit the ground running! Unfortunately our first business was negatively impacted by COVID-19 and our cat, who we recently lost, racked up quite the medical bills before she passed. This has made it incredibly difficult to save money to start the new business. We have applied for and are in the process of applying for small business grants, however, because the need is high and resources are limited, it is unlikely that we will be funded this way. The GoFundMe platform has empowered us to call upon our support system to create our own crowd-sources small business grant!
You can back our fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/new-creative-business-opportunity
Here is what we will use the money for:
Brick and Mortar Location (exterior)
- New Weatherproof Signage
- New Awning
- New Paint
- New Paving Stones for side walkway/ramp for accessibility
- New Parking Sign
- New Parking Permits to reserve spots immediately in front of the store
- *If we surpass our goal by leaps and bounds, we would invest in a security grate to protect windows and doors from potential damage or theft.
Brick and Mortar Location (interior)
- Fresh Paint
- Glass Cabinets/Furniture
- New POS (Point Of Sale) System, Cash Register, and Scan Gun
- New Phone
- Computer/Laptop, Printer
- Shipping Scale
- Stickers/Stamps/Branding/Bags/Tissue
- Additional Cameras
- Additional Lighting
- Displays, Mirrors,
- JoolTool to Polish and Repair Jewelry
- Inventory *we will produce most of the inventory in-house and call upon existing relationships for consignment agreements
Online Store/Social Media/Marketing
- New eCommerce Site (Shopify)
- Ads on most popular platforms
- Advertisements in local and industry publications
Thank you so much for your consideration and help! We appreciate it so much! We feel very fortunate to be able to pursue this new venture and think that we could use our creative small business to help build community, empower people, and inspire healing in the neighborhood.
You can back our fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/new-creative-business-opportunity