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    Shop Talk: Catherine Street Mercantile a Showcase for Diverse Artisans

    New York City’s Catherine Street once meant home for Joel Cosme Jr. Now, the name means home for a diverse group of minority-owned small businesses on the South Side of Columbus.  

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    Catherine Street Mercantile, located within Community Grounds: Coffee and Meeting House at 1132 – 1134 Parsons Ave., was founded by Cosme and his wife Tara in January 2021. The mercantile currently hosts 25 vendors and includes art, pantry items, coffee grounds, tea, coffee shop merchandise, crafts, household products, stickers and greeting cards, according to its website

    Cosme said the mercantile’s name is a connection to his history growing up in New York City and staying at the Catherine Street Homeless Shelter with his family.

    “Whenever we were without a place to live, eventually we would end up there,” he said. 

    The mercantile is mostly local vendors, but there are some small businesses from outside the U.S. that are a part of the shop as well. 

    “We don’t believe in limiting the small business and where we get something from,” he said. “As long as they align with our ideals, we’re happy to support any other vendors that come join our shop.”

    Those ideals include supporting woman, Black, veteran, immigrant, LGBTQ, disability, youth and couple-owned businesses.

    “Our goal is to support as many underprivileged or underrepresented communities as possible,” Cosme said. “Even though it seems like it’s a relatively small space, there’s just a lot of diversity within that space.” 

    Community Grounds was founded in May 2019. Cosme said indoor seating closed for awhile during the global pandemic, so he and his wife searched for other sources of income for the coffee shop. The two opened up the coffee shop’s main room and turned it into what is now the Catherine Street Mercantile.

    For some vendors, Catherine Street Mercantile is their entrance in selling their wares. The mercantile’s youngest vendor, Brinleigh, started her Cleansing the Soul Soaps business at the age of 13. 

    In addition to small businesses, the mercantile supports various causes in Columbus through selling goods associated with their organizations or monetary donations, such as Suspended South Side, Feed & Read Ohio, Black, Queer & Intersectional Collective, Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio, Guardians of Heart and Celebrating One.

    Cosme said the goal of the coffee shop is to employ local people and work on individual staff development. 

    “We always focus on the strengths of our staff and whatever their strengths are, we try to help them add it onto the space,” Cosme said. 

    Catherine Street Mercantile has a Facebook page and a website with a list of vendor items. The mercantile and coffee shop are located at 1132 – 1134 Parsons Ave. and are open Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. – 4 p.m., Friday from 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. 

    For more information, visit mycommunitygrounds.com.

    All photos by Ashley Kimmel

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    Ashley Kimmel
    Ashley Kimmel
    Ashley Kimmel is a freelance reporter for Columbus Underground. She graduated from OSU with a BA in Journalism. Ashley has lived in Columbus her entire life and is passionate about the growing community and supporting small businesses.
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