Isringhausen hopes to cultivate a next generation of downtown businesses with DRIVE grant

When Isringhausen Imports first opened in 1981, the business was a modest used-car dealership at the corner of East Stanford Avenue and 11th Street, selling late-model German vehicles out of a small warehouse.

But the Isringhausen family had big dreams for the future and worked to make them a reality. Within three years, the dealership moved to a 20,000-square-foot showroom in downtown Springfield and added the newest additions from some of the world's top luxury car makers.

Now, Isringhausen is an anchor in downtown Springfield's economy and after 40 years of building a successful business, are branching off to help other business owners try and get a similar foothold.

The Isringhausen DRIVE Grant, a partnership with Downtown Springfield Inc., is designed to provide thousands of dollars to help aspiring business owners launch in downtown Springfield. Businesses can compete to receive the $20,000 grant paid out over 12 months for start-up costs and help with things such as property repairs, accessories, promotion, and signage.

Entries for this year's competition will be received until Friday at 11:59 p.m. People seeking to apply need to fill out two forms, available on DSI's website: a feasibility assessment that helps gauge people's interest in actually opening a business downtown and a business plan that includes an executive summary, description of the company, market analysis, organizational structure, description of the product being sold and a series of financial projections for the next three-five years.

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Gary Mollohan, an Isringhausen marketing specialist, said that it only was natural for the family-owned business to pay it forward after all the community support they have received.

"Downtown Springfield has been wonderful to us," Mollohan said. "We've been able to grow and thrive over the years and it's a way for Geoff Isringhausen (the dealership's owner) and the Isringhausen family to give back to downtown Springfield and help the next generation of entrepreneurs who start out a little bit like we did – modest in scope, but with big dreams."

There are rules that each business owner has to follow before they send in their business plan to DSI: they must plan to open a store in the downtown area; they can't be a non-profit or a franchise, must be committed full-time to the business and must either be a new business or someone relocating to the downtown area within the next 6-12 months, among others.

DSI executive director Kayla Graven said that the program helps small businesses fill in some of the gaps that come up when trying to open a business downtown. For instance, the cost to renovate properties downtown can be incredibly expensive and the $20,000 can go a long way towards helping to make a storefront good as new.

"Sometimes, that money can go to helping to see through the completion of a project," Graven said.

The program kicked off last year with the first recipient, The Wakery, opening in April across from the Old State Capitol along 5th Street. Elizabeth Ross Wake, the store's owner, approached Isringhausen and DSI with an idea for a non-alcoholic bar and coffee shop that would serve people after most of the city's coffee shops have closed for the day.

Wake said that her own experience of not being able to find a good coffee shop open late in the afternoon and into the evening helped inspire her to create The Wakery. She said she also felt left out socially two years ago when she was pregnant with her son and thought a non-alcoholic bar could suit that group as well.

"That was one of my first experiences feeling on the outside looking in (socially)," Wake said. "I felt like there needed to be a space in Springfield that was not a restaurant (or) a bar, open late and available to all who wanted a late-night spot."

Wake has filled the menu with non-alcoholic cocktails that lack the buzz but have all the flavor alongside a range of non-alcoholic beers and wines. In addition, she serves craft drinks, coffee, tea, and pastries.

She applied for last year's DRIVE grant after gaining ample experience in the hospitality business through a job at Incredibly Delicious. It didn't hurt that she was also working to get her masters in public administration from the University of Illinois Springfield.

"Public administration and business administration are very intertwined," Wake said. "They're fairly flexible. You use a lot of the same things in both. I understood budget and financial analysis, human relations, going through policy – because when you open a business, there's a lot of policies involved, especially in the restaurant industry through the health department and getting your business license. I understood that whole world."

For Wake, the process of getting the grant went something like this: during the fall of 2022, she conducted a series of mock interviews with DSI and the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance before making her final pitch to Isringhausen officials in November. By December 2022, Wake was informed that her company would be receiving the $20,000.

After she received the money, Wake used some of it on two major purchases: a large sign with The Wakery's logo – an owl sitting on a branch with the Y in Wakery serving as a martini glass with a crescent moon over the top of it – made by Ace Sign Co. that was placed outside the store and a walk-in back bar refrigerator to store cold drinks and pastries.

"Things are going very well," Wake said. "There are days where we are packed – wall-to-wall, every seat is taken, standing room only – and it's wonderful to look around the business and not know a single face, knowing that these are people from the community, not just my family and friends who are supporting me. They're here for the business, not me. Things are going extremely well and a lot of that is due to not just the financial support, but the fact that Isringhausen Imports believed in this idea and helped inspire me to go big."

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For this year's contest, at least half-a-dozen entries will be selected as finalists, where they will move on to practice a pitch with DSI – much like Wake did – before they meet with Isringhausen, Shark Tank-style, on Sept. 25.

"We invite everyone to pitch their idea to our owners and senior management, but it's far less stressful (than Shark Tank)," Mollohan said. "We're not going to try to grill them on the spot or anything."

While the deadline for applications is quickly approaching on Friday, Graven said that people shouldn't sweat it if they can't get it in on time. DSI provides other programs to help support downtown businesses, big and small.

"We do From Market to Main Street (where) some of our market vendors have gone into brick and mortars, like Custom Cup Coffee (and) Buzz Bomb," Graven said. "Another program they can go through is Co-Starters at Innovate Springfield; that might be a really good starting point, too."

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Isringhausen looking to support downtown business through DRIVE grant