DENVER — With fewer people working downtown, the heart of Denver is still struggling to get back to its pre-pandemic glory.
A new program in Denver is offering at least three months of free rent to small businesses and entrepreneurs who set up shop in empty storefronts in areas of the city that are struggling to recover from the pandemic.
Earlier this year, the first phase of the program launched with five businesses selected. Now, the Downtown Denver Partnership has phase two in the works and is planning to select ten more businesses next year using part of a $2.4 million fund from the federal pandemic aid package.
At least two faces will be familiar to judges the second time around.
Zyaire and Char’les Hawkins may be young — 13 and 11 years old, respectively — but their baked treats are already taking the internet by storm and they have their sights set on a storefront of their own in downtown Denver.
The two launched “Little Sistas Treats” in 2020, as a pandemic pastime. Between their cookies, cakes, colorful cheesecake cones and more, they quickly realized they had created a hit.
“People will order like a 100,” Zyaire said, mixing their latest batch of cookies. “And then we have to do it like the night before.”
“Once we did like for a summer thing, and we were representing someone, and it was like 1,500 cookies of assorted nut,” Char’les added. “They were gone fast.”
The Hawkins sisters applied for the first round of Denver Pop-Up assistance earlier this year. Even facing off against seasoned entrepreneurs, they were among the top finalists. Now that phase two has been announced, they’re already readying their pitch to judges.
“We want it to be colorful, so a lot of people can see it,” Char’les said of their dream storefront. “There’d be little kids seeing it, like, ‘oh my gosh, mom, can we come back here?’ Because it would probably make them really happy to see other children doing their own thing.”
It’s a lot of work, building their dream business from the ground up while still getting their school work done and partaking in sports and extracurriculars—their mom, to that point, has made it clear that their bakery plans are contingent on maintaining good grades.
But the work is worth it for the Hawkins sisters, as they have a vision to realize not only for themselves but for their community.
“There’s a lack of diversity in Colorado, and we want to make a change,” Zyaire said. “And there’s a lot of room for us to do that. We want to just inspire people to be their own CEO just like us, and we can make a difference.”
“We’re little black kids, and most little black kids don’t really have their own business,” Char’les agreed.
The Downtown Denver Partnership plans to start accepting applications for the next phase of Denver Pop-Up in February. The goal is for participating businesses to move into the spaces permanently after the free rent period ends.
The Associated Press contributed to this report