Profile
Coimatan
Coimatan is a think tank for local retail. There are 31.7M small businesses in the U.S. yet commercial real-estate vacancies are hitting a record-high. The pioneering effort serves to bridge this gap and revitalize local economies, as an incubator… Coimatan is a think tank for local retail. There are 31.7M small businesses in the U.S. yet commercial real-estate vacancies are hitting a record-high. The pioneering effort serves to bridge this gap and revitalize local economies, as an incubator for diverse small retail and culinary businesses. To do so, the team works with small business owners, creatives, and nonprofits to create captivating and nontraditional opportunities for brick-and-mortar entry and retention. Coimatan offers a full suite of services including experiential design consulting and small business programming.
Vasiliki Papanikolopoulos
Our Story
Walking home from work everyday in the heart of Philadelphia and watching the main street slowly disintegrate motivated me to do something and contribute to the revitalization of local economies. Fast forward three years and Coimatan came to be as a… Walking home from work everyday in the heart of Philadelphia and watching the main street slowly disintegrate motivated me to do something and contribute to the revitalization of local economies. Fast forward three years and Coimatan came to be as a think tank for local retail that works with small businesses, creatives, and non-profits to bring nontraditional and sustainable concepts into brick-and-mortar spaces. In the last two years building Coimatan, the team is proud to have partnered with over 150 small businesses (with more than 90% being BIPOC and/or women-owned) on product launches and pop-up experiences that are the first of their kind in Minnesota, growing the movement to connect small businesses and consumers for a strong local economy.