When you hear the words “chamber of commerce,” you might get a vision of a crowd of business people holding stuffy meetings in faraway boardrooms. Kris Toth, president of the Brecksville Chamber of Commerce, is here to set the record straight.
“It’s just a good group of people who own businesses and who are trying to help each other,” Toth says. “We try to be the heartbeat of commerce in the city.”
From annual golf outings that the businesses can sponsor to grand opening ribbon cuttings celebrating new businesses in town, the Chamber is all about being active and ensuring businesses get as much exposure as possible.
“We keep running out of ribbon, we’ve had so many new businesses opening,” Toth says.
The Chamber also aims to connect businesses to each other. “We’re not there to get — we’re there to give,” he says. “The members are genuinely good people and willing to give back and help other businesses like they’ve been helped.”
Here’s a look at just a few local businesses that have thrived with the support of the Chamber and each other.
1811 Shop & Bar Room | 1811 Children’s Shop
Sometimes when you’re presented with two ideas, the best solution is to follow them both. At least, that was Amanda Orosz Kaye’s strategy when opening 1811 Shop & Bar Room, a unique combination of her idea of a housewares and gift shop and her husband’s desire to open a craft cocktail lounge.
“During the pandemic, my husband and I were talking dreams, and we brought our dreams to life,” Kaye says.
The experience of visiting 1811 Shop & Bar Room is just as unique as the store’s concept. All of the items in the shop Kaye curated herself, finding many of them on personal trips across the country and abroad. The wide range of styles allows her to customize gifts for every type of customer.
“I love helping customers come up with gifts that suit their needs,” she says.
The Bar Room offers a quaint, personal atmosphere that makes the drinks truly the star of the show. All of the juices and syrups are made in-house, and the business avoids using any pre-made mixes or well liquor. The result is cocktails bursting with quality, freshness and flavor.
“The chill vibe in the Bar Room is just something you have to experience for yourself,” Kaye adds. “You walk into the 1811 Shop & Bar Room and immediately feel a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of everyday transactional life.”
Her connections with the Chamber have helped her network and find resources to ensure that the brand keeps growing, which it has with the opening of 1811 Children’s Shop, located just a few doors down. “Having advocates for our business is an invaluable resource,” she says.
1811 Shop & Bar Room, 7730 Chippewa Road, Brecksville, 440-630-9411
1811 Children’s Shop, 7690 Chippewa Road, Brecksville, 440-630-9171, 1811home.com
Apricot Lane Boutique Brecksville
Sherry Mazzola’s experience raising two daughters certainly taught her a thing or two about shopping.
“I’d go shopping at the mall and they’d go off on their own, and I’d be by myself because the stores that they wanted to shop at were not the stores that I wanted to shop at,” she says. “I wanted a store where mothers and daughters could shop together.”
Enter: Apricot Lane, a national franchise. The boutiques are independently owned, allowing store owners to do their own product selection, which leads to an eclectic and unique shopping experience at each location. Apricot Lane Boutique Brecksville is curated based on cutting-edge trends that prioritize classic longevity over fast turnovers. One of the perks of being a small boutique is the ability to be nimble in product buying.
“I’m listening to the customers and what they’re looking for,” Mazzola says. “I’m trying to tailor and curate my collection to suit their needs.”
The importance of relationships is certainly one of the foundations of Apricot Lane. Mazzola is proud of how she — along with her daughter, an alum of Kent State’s fashion school and now a partner in Apricot Lane — created a space where women of all ages can feel safe and be themselves.
“When I see women come out of a dressing room and they know they look good, it’s the greatest feeling ever,” she says.
8918 Brecksville Road, Brecksville | 216-400-0351, apricotlanebrecksville.com
Jennings
Rooted in Catholic values but serving people of all faiths, Jennings celebrates and nurtures individuals as they age, through exceptional choices and continuous innovation.
Longevity is key to the past, present and future of Jennings at Brecksville. Created in 1942, the senior living community’s mission is to celebrate and nurture individuals as they age.
“We are a very person-centered organization,” says Lisa Brazytis, chief marketing officer for Jennings. “We help residents to enjoy life and to continue discovering their potential.”
Jennings at Brecksville offers both independent and assisted living. The independent living sector prioritizes the freedom of residents while working to eliminate boundaries that people have when they are living without support. If residents require additional care, Jennings adds support services for them.
“We want residents to live life the way that they want to with just some simple changes,” Brazytis says.
Other amenities include an executive chef-led culinary services team, which provides delicious, homemade meals on-site. There is also a pub that celebrates happy hours Monday through Friday before dinner.
“It’s really a wonderful celebration of life and the diversity of experiences,” Brazytis shares.
While the individualized care certainly raises the bar on quality standards of assisted and independent living homes, a lot of the life on campus is determined by the residents themselves. The Resident Council is key to building community and assisting the staff in creating experiences of their own choosing.
“It’s very important for Jennings that we are part of a community and that we are able to give that community to residents,” Brazytis says.
8736 Brecksville Road, Brecksville | 216-581-2900, jenningsohio.org/brecksville
HealthDirect Pharmacy Services
he world of pharmacy and health care is one of the most important services, yet also one of the most complicated. This is where HealthDirect comes in, a long-term care division that services assisted living, skilled nursing facilities and group homes in Northeast Ohio.
“We help the people who care for the people who need cared for,” says Eric Geyer, the pharmacy director for HealthDirect.
Operating under the larger umbrella of KPH pharmacy, HealthDirect seeks to offer different solutions to help organize and streamline health care. From electronic medical record services to vaccine clinics to unique tools to help people keep track of daily medications, Geyer and his crew try to keep it simple but effective.
“We try to customize it to the needs of the patients and the facilities,” he says.
Another one of HealthDirect’s biggest missions is to be very high-touch, or hands-on, in its care. This is amplified by the fact that it’s an employee-owned company, which creates a different structure of accountability and responsibility. Because of this, the business is able to create connections with patients and facilities that larger pharmaceutical and health care companies oftentimes cannot.
“Who you choose for your pharmacy matters,” Geyer says. “We have a high customer satisfaction rate, and we try to give that above and beyond service.”
844-969-7999 | hdrxservices.com
360 Marketing LLC
360 Marketing aims for the heart. The full-service marketing agency’s mission is to find out what makes its manufacturing, industrial distribution and nonprofit organization clients stand out.
“We really want to find out what their unique selling point is,” Peter Baka, president of 360 Marketing, says.
To do this, 360 Marketing spends a lot of time on the front-end planning and strategy. Once a solid plan is in place, the company takes on every aspect of marketing, including social media, websites, videos and PR. The small client load helps to be able to achieve the best results and peak satisfaction.
“We don’t just sell you what we have — we create what you need,” Baka says.
Baka and his team of employees and contractors have completed so many successful campaigns in their nine-year history that they have a workable formula that can be used in any marketing situation. Baka compares it to an equation: Take a specific message to a very specific audience for a very specific response.
“Now, each one of those elements can be very complicated,” Baka says. “But it’s all the same problem — it just depends on how you want to look at it.”
Baka says he has found incredible networking opportunities through the Brecksville Chamber of Commerce. “I’ve been a part of a lot of other networking groups, but the Brecksville Chamber was there with open arms,” he says.
750 Town Centre Drive, Suite 200, Broadview Heights | 440-544-5448, 360mktgllc.com
From Green to Clean Pools
Business at From Green to Clean Pools is blooming, er, booming. Owner Don Lloyd’s first foray into the pool business was discovering and treating sudden algae blooms in the pools of neighbors, friends and family.
“That was really the start of it all — trying to understand a bit of our environment in and around Brecksville,” Lloyd says.
Lloyd dove in headfirst, contacting manufacturers to get certified in various pool-servicing practices, including how to create efficient water chemistry. Now in his fourth year of business, he can cover not just basic service and cleaning, but also equipment replacement and conversions from traditional chlorine pools to saltwater pools.
“I take care of my customers’ pools as if my family will be swimming in it,” he says. “I make the water safe.”
Lloyd does most of the work himself and sometimes enlists the help of his sons. He keeps his customer base small and focuses locally.
“I’m able to quickly get to my customers, oftentimes in the same day, always by the next day,” he says. “They’re not just a quick stop on my schedule.”
Once Lloyd finishes his work, he also tries to assess if there are any potential problems that could crop up in the future. If he sees anything beyond what he’s trained to fix, he uses his network through the Chamber to find the appropriate people and services.
440-399-7700, fromgreentocleanpools.com
