Monday, March 31, 2008

Day 4: The Galvez Pharmacy



We rolled into the Upper 9th Ward on a bright sunny morning. A loud pop song echoed through the street as we were ushered into an erstwhile pharmacy, which the Idea Village would renovate and give away as retail space to one the four short listed entrepreneurs based on our recommendation.

The wrecked pharmacy must have once been a thriving store. Today, apart from the Visa and Mastercard stickers and the Exit sign, little else remained. A dozen shattered Gin bottles lay in a corner under the stairway that disappeared into the second floor. Idea Village plans to build a Technology Center and a satellite IV office in the space above.

Eldridge, a former fire fighter, local restaurateur, Laundromat owner and the neighborhood “godfather” is a simple unassuming man who runs Poppa’s Seafood Deli across the street. We were soon to realize how crucial he would be in the success of not just the business that we bring into the retail space but also in the development of the business ecosystem in the Upper 9th Ward. Miji, the director of the Innovative Space Program of the Idea Village, believed that small clusters of businesses could gather a critical mass that would attract residents and other businesses back to N. Galvez. Isolated businesses would not be likely to gain from Eldridge’s halo effect.

Eldridge spoke about his plans to open a hair salon and did not feel another hair salon would compete with his own. He also welcomed a baby clothes retail store and liked the idea of a bill-payment service for his community. The 1000 sq. ft. commercial space came with only one problem. Parking was severely constrained and Eldridge did not like the idea of customers stealing the parking spots in his restaurant lot. Ironically, the parking issue would soon return to haunt us at 1am on Friday morning.

Lunch turned out to be a torturously long wait, and the food never did arrive in time. That afternoon was our only chance to have face time with the entrepreneurs and we were already running late when walked out with our food in boxes. Miji drove our team to Harvey, Westbank while the other three teams returned to the IV offices. As we systematically went to work, peppering our respective entrepreneurs with questions, IV supported us every step of the way. They fed us well, chauffeured us around and facilitated our analysis in ways that always exceeded our expectations.
P&Ls were scrutinized, models were cranked, frameworks were (over) applied – all in a day’s work of us business school types. Caffeine and wireless from PJ’s, the coffee shop next door, might have been the single biggest driver of productivity after IV’s own charming staff. This could have easily been “a day in the life of a consultant” if ever there was one.

- Anupama Sharma

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