COLUMBUS, Ohio — March 8 is International Women's Day, so it's the perfect time to highlight women’s achievements in our communities and their role in breaking gender norms.
What You Need To Know
- "On Paper" is a woman-run stationary store that opened right before the pandemic
- The owner said sales have been consistently growing year after year
- The Executive Director of Short North Alliance said over 90 businesses in the Short North community are women-owned
"On Paper" is a stationery store, and Margy Lydy-Meeker is the owner.
The woman-owned business opened before COVID, and she said it wasn’t easy.
“I acquired the business in January 2020,” Margy Lydy-Meeker said. “The state shut us down. Then, the George Floyd situation happened in May 2020, where storefronts were all boarded up, and so that was just another crazy situation that I didn’t know if I could survive.”
It was one thing after another, but something kept her going.
“My big lender is a woman. My realtor was a woman. And so that just made me feel like they’re there in business doing these things. And so, there’s no reason that I can’t do it too,” she said.
Lydy-Meeker’s business is now thriving.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve grown sales. Every year has been about a 20% growth,” she said.
While opening right before COVID was challenging, she wasn’t alone.
According to BusinessWire.com, during the pandemic, women launched more businesses than they closed, while the number of men-owned businesses shrunk.
Executive Director of Short North Alliance in Columbus, Betsy Pandora said a lot of businesses in the area are women-owned.
“The Short North Arts District as a community is an incredible place for women-owned businesses to locate,” said Pandora. “Over 90 businesses here in our community are women-owned.”
She went on to describe how the Short North area is beneficial to women-owned businesses.
“The Short North community really benefits from having one of the most diverse customer bases in all central Ohio,” Pandora explained. “We have a huge tourism industry. We have a huge connection to the university because we are so located near it, and we’re an incredibly friendly environment for young people. All of those are reasons why any small business would succeed here, but why women-owned businesses, in particular, can succeed here.”
Representing women in the business world is especially important to Lydy-Meeker.
“We can compete with men,” she said. “And we can do everything that men can do, and actually sometimes we can do it better. “
She hopes 'On Paper' inspires other aspiring business owners.
“If it’s something that somebody wants to do,” she said, “I would say just do it.”