"Winning this could be a pivotal moment for me," said Jess Jacob, owner of Idalia bath + botanicals.
The entrepreneur and cancer survivor is referring to the four months of free rent she's currently enjoying in Designworx, a multi-tenant establishment at 707 S. 16th St. in Wilmington's Cargo District.
Designworx "seemed like a good space for my transitional sort of phase because it's a studio and a little bit of retail," Jacob said, adding that she has room to conduct workshops as well.
Through Idalia, another name for the love goddess Aphrodite, Jacob sells bath teas, which are herbal blends in linen bags that people can use to infuse their bathwater, and ritual candles, many of which she makes with seashells, shark's teeth, crystals and herbs.
Christian Cardamone, who is the owner of Designworx and a commercial real estate developer and broker, has been offering the four-month-free rent giveaways for about five years.
"When I first developed the space, it was a wood shop, and so I was kind of trying to follow Leslie's (Cargo District developer Leslie Smith) lead with the Cargo District in making smaller, more affordable work spaces for. Then it just lent itself to like a maker space," Cardamone said. "And so initially (the rent giveaway) was to try, selfishly, to fill spaces and to get people in there and draw attention to the building."
The idea ultimately served two purposes, he said. First, it helped "get a warm body in the building – occupancy is always better than vacancy – but then subsequently, I get to offer someone the opportunity," Cardamone said.
"And I just think that's cool."
Cardamone, who is also the owner of Aloha Wilmington Real Estate, said the giveaway can help a business grow or, conversely, let a business owner see that a storefront might not be the right fit for them.
Jacob started her business in December last year, operating out of a studio in a shed in her yard and selling her goods at local markets. She noticed the rent giveaway posted on the Designworx Instagram account and entered, but she didn't win right away. The first winner had to decline the prize, and Jacob's was the next name on the list.
Before that, she was also one of three winners of an Instagram giveaway of a promotional video from a local production company.
"I'm taking it as signs from the universe to keep moving in the same direction," Jacob said.
Other products she's working on outside of the bath teas and ritutal candles are floating candles. For her candles in general, "I really want to do a build-your-own bar, so I'll have sort of like the blank slate of candles, and you can come in and pick your shells or your shark's teeth or your crystals or your herbs," she said. "I think people are doing a lot more experience-based things these days."
Jacob began using her free space in September.
"I'm hoping that this will be a way to generate brand awareness, get more customers...I wouldn't have gotten space outside my shed if I were paying rent at this point," Jacob said. "So, like I said, I think it can be, hopefully, theoretically, like a pivotal point that gets me growing a little more as I move towards my one-year mark."
