Funky retailers' directory knits shops together

When Ryrie Valdez referred a customer at her Ryrie's Art & Home store on Lakeside Drive to Nevada Fine Arts in midtown Reno last week, she needed to take a moment to create a Google map to show the customer.

A couple of days later, Valdez had a faster, old-fashioned option at her fingertips a newly created map that details the location of 25 funky, creative and art-inspired independent retailers around Reno.

"I think it's important for small businesses to network," says Valdez, who participated in similar maps of art galleries during 27 years she was in business in Tahoe City. "We send people downtown all the time."

A brainchild of Nevada Fine Arts co-owner Debbie Wolff, the maps were created by graphic artist Lisa Gorman of Reno.

Gorman defines the participating shop owners as "inventive retailers" business owners who are in the process of defining their own retail categories.

They range from Junkee Clothing Exchange and Stellar Consignment to the store at the Nevada Museum of Art.

A thread common to many, Gorman says, is a green ethic the re-use or repurposing of goods, often with an artistic flair.

"The map is an easy way to recommend people you think you clients would enjoy," she says.

The idea got traction quickly after Wolff mentioned it to a couple of neighboring merchants who visited her art-supplies store, an informal gathering place for like-minded store owners in the midtown neighborhood.

"There was need to do any selling at all once the word was out," Gorman says.

While most of the stores are within walking distance of one another in the neighborhood along South Virginia Street, a few, such as Lavender Ridge at 7450 W. Fourth St. are farther afield.

The pocket-sized map, Gorman says, is a good tool to integrate those outlying retailers into the informal network.

Each of the participating retailers received 300 copies of the map a total press run of 7,500. Gorman says the press run was deliberately kept relatively small so that the map can be update regularly to reflect seasonal hours and other changes in stores' operations.

Gorman doesn't disclose the cost of the project, but says the retailers paid far less for participation in the map than they would have paid for similar promotion on their own.