CINCINNATI — Summer is a time for taking time away and getting in a vacation or two. And one small business is making it easy to hit the road this summer.
Aclipse Campervans is a campervan rental company that’s seeing success during the vacation season. Now, they’re also expanding thanks to a local grant-giving organization.
What You Need To Know
- Main Street Ventures is a grant-giving organization that focuses on women or minority-owned businesses
- Aclipse Campervans recently received a grant from Main Street Ventures to add a new van to their fleet
- Main Street Ventures hopes to keep small businesses and unique ideas close to home
- Aclipse Campervans owners said they're grateful for the opportunity to grow their business
When Emily Bruns steps into her company’s campervans, she said she’s proud of all they’ve thought of since they started the business four years ago.
“We’ve tried to think of everything,” Bruns said.
Bruns and her husband came up with the idea when they got a campervan in Iceland.
“We really loved that way of travel,” she said. “And we were like, this should really be a thing in the U.S.!”
So she and a friend started Aclipse Campervans, making sure each van was packed with everything you’d need, from coolers to cooking utensils.
“We end up being that sort of first step into camping,” Bruns said. “We want you to feel comfortable and we want you to have everything that you really need.”
Their business grew when the pandemic hit.
“We were able to provide a way of travel and a way for people to have fun during that time and it made all of this turn into something really special,” she said.
But they needed some extra help to grow their fleet, which is where Main Street Ventures came in.
“We really want to empower them and keep really good people and ideas here,” Abby Ober, director of engagement for Main Street Ventures, said.
The grant-giving organization has awarded over $3 million to local businesses since 2018, with Aclispse Campervans being one of them.
“Looking at all the things that you can physically see that we can help them with, like looking at the vans, like we were able to help them add another to their fleet and continue their business and make it even better,” Ober said.
Now, Bruns has an extra van to meet her customers’ demand, something she said has brought them to the next level.
“We just needed that extra capacity in the rentals,” Bruns said. “So applying for the grant was allowing us to build out that one more van that we really needed.”
And as Bruns gets her vans ready for the next traveler, she shared a piece of advice for other entrepreneurs on their journey.
“Life is short and you’re not guaranteed tomorrow,” she said. “And if there’s something that you want to do, go do it, go do it today.”
Main Street Ventures’ next grant application cycle starts July 10.