CINCINNATI — At a time when more shoppers are buying online, some small businesses are turning to in-person stores and one city is helping to foot the bill.

It might look run down inside, but Renika Smiley has a vision. She’s turning an old Cincinnati barbershop into her new shop. She’s making room for rental space for start-up businesses and her own business called “Lusheous Collection.” It’s a plus size clothing line she started online and despite the online shopping trend, she wanted to move to a brick and mortar shop.

“The biggest issue is that there’s so less of a niche of where plus size women can purchase these type of clothes, where it makes them feel good and boost their confidence online…. They can go to a Shein Curve, Fashion Nova, but there’s not a lot of places where they can touch and feel,” said Smiley. 

She plans to open her shop this summer.

Approximately 10 minutes north, another online shop is opening up an in-person store too.

Nicole Lee is opening “Fruleaf Juicery.”

“We started it because there was a lack of healthy options within our community. So we wanted to bring healthy, nutritious drinks to our community,” said Lee. 

She said she started making those drinks in her house and moved to a bigger borrowed space to start filling online orders. Now there are plans for her new shop.

“It’s very dear to my heart to be able to see something come to light that I’ve worked so hard at and to be able to offer something amazing to the community, something healthy that I know that they’re going to enjoy,” said Lee. 

Both businesses are going from online to in-person stores thanks to a new Cincinnati city-wide grant to pay for it.

More than a dozen businesses received $20,000 this year as a part of the city’s effort to reduce barriers to get commercial space. 

“It’s all about making sure to stay committed to customers by staying committed, by not giving up and persevering,” said Smiley.