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In Brief

The CoIN Loft offers entrepreneurs a different kind of working environment, a bicycle “boutique” is ideal for commuters, and a new mural welcomes folks to Little Italy.

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Working Together

The CoIN Loft co-op breeds big ideas.

Entrepreneurs looking for a different kind of work environment will find it in the city’s new CoIN Loft.

From an old hair salon at 300 W. Ninth St., founders Wes Garnett and Steve Roettger have created a kind of inexpensive office co-op where tenants have free access to each other—as well as each other’s business networks and ideas—but without the office. They say CoIN (short for community innovation) will be the scene for the “passionate pioneers of tomorrow.”

“We wanted to start an ecosystem for entrepreneurship,” says Garnett. “CoIN offers innovators an open space to gather and bounce ideas off one another and thereby tap into resources that working alone out of the home just can’t provide.”

Since opening April with a capacity of 21 tenants, CoIN has gotten off to an impressive start, with a tenancy of 10 to 15 “imagineers” working on two floors. Facilities include a lounge, a conference room, and an open, brainstorming space filled with desks and the other basic furnishings.

Roettger read about the “futurecentric” concept in a magazine, then he and Garnett visited a version in Philly. Both thought Wilmington was perfect for the idea.

“We believed CoIN would ride the wave of creativity currently flowing through downtown Wilmington,” says Garnett. “Exchanging business cards is good, but being in a place where you can exchange ideas you had been working on alone is a lot more powerful. A social media expert and a graphic designer working out of CoIN were able to bid on a large contract recently. They weren’t successful the first time around, but they would not have even been able to bid working on their own.”

Rents range from $40 a month for three days to $300 a month for 24-seven access. For more, visit www.thecoinloft.com. —Reid Champagne 

Page 2: Pedaling Into Tomorrow | A new bicycle "boutique" gives commuters a home.