Custom furniture store wins Race for the Space contest
Khristopher J Brooks
@AmericanGlow
Dani Polidor didn't think she was going to win.
Late Friday night, the Toronto native who moved to Rochester 10 years ago watched as four other entrepreneurs pitched a business idea for an empty retail space downtown. A panel of judges scrutinized each idea, but appeared impressed with every presentation. One company pitched a wine lounge selling global wines. Another envisioned a craft beer cafe. A third company, Tucker's Diner, presented a restaurant that featured meals made only with locally grown food.
Ultimately, the judges decided that Polidor's business, a custom furniture store named City Sense, would be the winner. And when Polidor heard the announcement, she had one thought.
"I was shocked and stunned because I was rooting for Tucker's," said Polidor, holding a glass trophy that read 2015 Race for the Space winner.
Polidor has earned free rent for a year at 127 East Ave. as the first entrepreneur to win the Young Entrepreneurs Academy contest. She beat out the other ideas and now plans to have her store open before the holiday shopping season.
"This is going to happen really quickly," she said.
The Race for the Space competition asked Rochester entrepreneurs to submit proposals for how they would use 127 East Ave. as a business. The competition was designed to get more retailers into vacant storefronts downtown. YEA! dwindled the applicants down to five and those five presented on Friday.
During Friday's event, Polidor went on stage before a crowd of dozens and a panel of nine and talked about her company.
Once opened, City Sense will sell reasonably priced furniture and will have six salespeople who work on commission. There will also be a store manager. Polidor, will use the space to showcase furniture and a section will have a newly designed showcase every month.
"Think of us as the department store and the Urban Home Show rolled into one," she said.
Victor Salerno, CEO of O'Connell Electric Company, Inc., was one of the judges. He said City Sense became the winner basically by unanimous decision. Polidor won, in part, because Rochester's downtown will soon see many new apartments and lofts opening up that will need new furniture, Salerno said.
Salerno also said the judges picked City Sense because they wanted one that had the least likelihood to flop.
"In reality we did a straw poll," Salerno said. "You don't want somebody to get in there and fail. This is important to the community."
YEA! plans to do a second Race for the Space competition, but the academy's CEO Gayle Jagel said she will focus on outfitting Polidor's new store first.
Jessica Rotoli, who pitched a hair salon called Blowout Studio, was named runner up Friday. If Polidor can't succeed at 127 East Ave., Rotoli will take over.
Polidor, Rotoli and the other finalists made their way to Friday's event after three Saturdays worth of entrepreneurs boot camp at St. John Fisher College.
Ray Shady, the college's interim dean of the business school, said the finalists spent eight hours for three Saturdays being grilled by operation managers, bankers, accountants, marketing experts and serial entrepreneurs. The coaches asked about every possible hole and what-ifs in each finalist's business plans.
Shady said he sat in on those sessions and saw that the finalists were somewhat overwhelmed.
"I think everyone realized that they'd been thrown in the deep end," he said. "The business owners' heads were just spinning. But it wasn't a confrontational thing, it was more of a what are you gonna do."
Over time, each finalist's business plan morphed and became stronger, Shady said. After learning as a group, Shady said the finalists built a bond that will last forever.
"As the weeks went on they were able to confide in one another," Shady said. "They were getting closer and closer to one another and now these are friends for life."
KJBROOKS@GANNETT.COM