Two Newmarket business leaders have teamed up to provide an event for young entrepreneurs to learn how to grow their companies while selling handcrafted products and baked goods.
The inaugural youth market, at Market Brewing Company on Saturday, May 4 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., will create a space that encourages young entrepreneurs to showcase and sell their products or services.
“This is a great way from an entrepreneur perspective to let kids come in, make a little bit of money, showcase their product, and sell it,” said Chris Cartwright, broker at Main Street Realty Ltd. “It gives them a platform and a space to do that where it is just for them.”
Cartwright reached out to Bill Gianopoulos, co-owner of Market Brewing, to discuss the idea of an event for young people. They had both recently participated in an Easter Seals dance.
“A lot of markets are for adults, professional businesses, and artisans, but this is a good way to showcase the children and future entrepreneurs,” said Gianopoulos. “I think it was a cool idea.”
The event will feature food from Smash n Grab Burgers and entertainment from Sean Kelly performing live music at 2 p.m., as the marketplace wraps up.
As an entrepreneur himself, Gianopoulos said it is important to help youth build their businesses and find ways to incorporate new ideas.
“I think it goes a long way that they start at this age to learn a little bit about business and how to run a business,” said Gianopoulos. “I know it’s a small sample size, but they’re learning about their costs, they’re learning about their time, they’re learning about what they should charge for what they’re doing, what the demand is for what they’re doing and I know there is going to be a lot of support from their friends and family, but they’re also trying to sell to people they have never seen or heard from before.”
The event will feature about 15 vendors selling custom buttons, key chains, crochet, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and clothing.
“There’s a good mixture of vendors and that is part of what we wanted,” said Cartwright. “There’s a lot of kids and bracelets are such a big thing. We did get a lot of requests for bracelet vendors to come ... but we try to mix it and keep it to two max per type of product.”
Cartwright hopes youth have the opportunity to work with each other and look at what other vendors are selling. He would like them to be inspired to do more.
“We’re hoping that this inspires them to work harder because we’re going to do it again,” said Cartwright. “With the way it’s going so far, and obviously we have to wait until May 4, we don’t think this is going to stop here. We’re going to keep doing it and I think it’s going to open up doors.”
Gianopoulos found it challenging to navigate the cost of goods going up, especially coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic with his own business. He, however, said he was able to regain his customer base with the support from the community. He encourages young entrepreneurs to never give up on themselves.
“If you believe in what you do and put all your passion toward it, I believe you will get success,” said Gianopoulos. “Sometimes people expect results overnight, but I always use the phrase, the journey is always a marathon, not a sprint.”
Market Brewing Company is at 17775 Leslie St., unit 9.
