Bond Hill Welcomes Davis Cookie Collection
Mayor and project partners cut ribbon on new business
Cincinnati, OH, October 10, 2020 - This morning in Bond Hill an enthusiastic, socially distanced crowd welcomed the arrival of the Davis Cookie Collection as its newest business district tenant. Finding Davis Cookie Collection its new home is part of a larger effort by neighborhood and city leaders to identify unique, black-owned/locally owned businesses to provide needed goods and services that have been lacking in Bond Hill.
Several Cincinnati-based organizations partnered on this project, including the City of Cincinnati, The Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority (The Port), The Bond Hill Community Council, and the Community Economic Advancement Initiative (CEAI).
The opening of a 1,100 square foot storefront will be Davis Cookie Collection’s first brick and mortar location and was first referred by The Minority Business Accelerator as a great fit for the Bond Hill business district.
“It is great to witness the Minority Business Accelerator once again assist local entrepreneurs successfully launch a business in Cincinnati,” said Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley. “Cincinnati has been intentional in helping our minority business owners grow their businesses and the Davis Cookie Collection is a great example of that network of support. They will be a great addition to the Bond Hill Business District.”
“We’re thrilled to open our cookie store in Bond Hill. It’s a dream come true for us,” said Christina Davis, owner, Davis Cookie Collection. “Our journey hasn’t been easy. We’ve faced various obstacles and barriers along the way but with the help of so many, and with our passion, dedication, and commitment to elevate our business, we made it happen,” Davis added.
The Port has worked closely with Christina and Miles Davis, co-owners of the cookie store, on the build-out of their storefront acting as project manager and coordinating with the architect, Moody Nolan, and contractor, Kevin Wright Construction Services.
The Port is actively marketing other storefronts in Bond Hill to local, neighborhood-serving businesses and entrepreneurs, working with Urban Fast Forward, a commercial real estate broker, on tenant recruitment.
“When we began our work in Bond Hill, the community identified a thriving business district with neighborhood-serving enterprises as its number one priority,” said Laura N. Brunner, President and CEO of The Port. “We’re excited to welcome Davis Cookie Collection to Bond Hill and we look forward to continuing the momentum by bringing more vitality to the district,” Brunner added.
Brunner thanked the numerous organizations which contributed to the Davis Cookie Collection success story, including Jenell Hubbard at the Minority Business Accelerator, Ed Mathis at Republic Commercial Real Estate, the City of Cincinnati, the Kresge Foundation, and CEAI.
The Port’s DREAM Loan Fund program paid for a portion of the tenant improvements for Davis Cookie Collection. The DREAM Loan Fund focuses on tenant improvements in neighborhood business districts, filling a financing gap to minimize barriers for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The loan fund was seeded by the Kresge Foundation, a grant-making and social investing organization.
The Port’s background in the Bond Hill Business District:
- The Port has been actively working in the Bond Hill Business District since 2015 and has since acquired a little over 3 acres. Revitalization of the Bond Hill Business District was identified as a number one community priority by neighborhood leaders and residents.
- The City of Cincinnati provided $1.5 million in capital funding for The Port’s work in Bond Hill, enabling The Port to leverage additional grants, private investment, and impact investment.
- Phase I of construction on the Bond Hill Business District kicked off in July of 2018 with a community block party and open house. Phase I included building renovations and façade improvements to 5,500 square feet of existing storefronts along Reading Road and demolition of a blighted structure to make way for parking to serve these storefronts. Funding for construction came from the City of Cincinnati, CEAI and The Port. Construction was completed by Core Resources and architectural services were provided by DNK Architects
About The Port
The Port was formed in 2001 to stimulate growth of the regional economy. Partnering with the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, The Port works to redevelop manufacturing and residential communities to build the foundation of job creation and livable, viable communities where residents can experience economic prosperity. For additional information, please visit http://cincinnatiport.org.
About Davis Cookie Collection
We launched Davis Cookie Collection in 2014 while Christina was a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati. She would bake during exam weeks to relieve the stress. She would also bring samples of her cookies to class and to her workplace (University of Cincinnati) and everyone loved them, often mentioning that the cookies were the “BEST” they ever had. One day a colleague at her workplace offered to pay $15 for a dozen of chocolate chip cookies. That’s when Christina realized she had a product that consumers would purchase. Christina mentioned the idea of starting a cookie business to husband/COO Miles. The next day a business was born! We created a Facebook page where we posted cookies for sale and people began to order by the dozen and our business grew significantly.
One of the inspirations for Christina was that her family who moved from Georgia to Cincinnati in the 1950’s, opened a restaurant/club called the “Club Safari” where delicious southern food and desserts were made from scratch and available for purchase. Even though Christina wasn’t born yet, hearing these stories over the years inspired her to become an entrepreneur.
Baking isn’t new to Christina, as baking and cooking from scratch was/is the foundation of her family. Christina had the opportunity to observe many family members in the kitchen as early as 5 years old. Christina learned the methods and processes to making delicious southern food and desserts, which she currently implements in each cookie recipe.
We graduated from the Mortar Entrepreneurship program in 2016 which helped to teach us the necessary tools to ensure that our business was successful. Many doors began to open after graduating from the program.
We are a husband and wife team that has worked extremely hard the last 7 years to build a successful business. Husband Miles is a huge part of their success as he takes care of the logistics, helps bake, manages IT difficulties, maintains inventory, and assists where needed. Our success is a result of God’s favor and the support of our parents and family.
Christina resigned as a Social Worker last year to pursue the business full-time.
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