BUILDING COMMUNITY BY SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES
Anthoni is an entrepreneur, visionary and owner of Vivunique, a custom embroidery shop at 139 S. 60th Street that he named in honor of his grandmother and cousin, but has come to represent: Visualizing economic growth by Impacting the neighborhood with a Validation of Urban awareness with Necessity to be Involved with the Quality of life by Unleashing the Entrepreneur spirit.
Anthoni grew up in North Philadelphia and has been designing for over 20 years. He has set up shops throughout Philadelphia offering on-demand embroidery services and personal designs over the years, but has made his home on the 60th Street Commercial Corridor.
Wanting to be more than just a business, he also set up Entrepreneur Supporter – an incubator space and storefront for designers. “I’m always helping those in doubt and helping the entrepreneurial spirit in them become unleashed.” Businesses can rent space and set up pop-up shops—all brands are welcome to come and flourish together.
Anthoni linked up with ACHIEVEability through our programming that provides technical assistance and resources
to businesses. “The services are great. I see what it has done for me.” As a part of our safe corridor initiative ACHIEVEability provided Anthoni with free security cameras and lights to keep his shop safe, and helped him apply for a $25,000 business assistance grant that he is awaiting approval. ACHIEVEability also supported Anthoni to expand his infrastructure by helping him effectively merchandise his goods with signage and bar code scanning machines.
Anthoni is part of a new trend on 60th Street. Vivunique and its neighbors African Expressions and Shirt Happens are creating a growing Black-owned fashion district on 60th Street. “[60th Street] is up and coming. I see a lot of businesses coming in and it is busy. When we open up, we open up together and close together. We are starting to be like family.”
A true gamechanger for Vivunique was when ACHIEVEability introduced Anthoni to Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and local elected officials during a neighborhood walking tour. That meeting resulted in a connection to Roc Nation and the Made in America festival that draws more than 80,000 people to Philadelphia every Labor Day weekend. Anthoni was contracted to bring Vivunique to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway for on-demand embroidery and personalization of festival merchandise. His work impressed the festival team so much that he is already talking to them about next year and how to enhance this service.
With ACHIEVEability’s help, Anthoni also plans to bring more audiences to his consortium of businesses by having guest speakers, holding fashion shows and sponsoring workshops so that businesses can share their stories and showcase their work. “I feel the support is there. If I can come up with something or want to put something on the table, ACHIEVEability will take a look into it and see where we can make it a reality.”
Help support Anthoni and the community and business owners in West Philadelphia. Click here to GIVE NOW! Celebrating 40 years #WESTPHILLYSTRONG