Small Business Directory

Oakland Wiki Small Business Directory highlights locally Oakland based businesses that Oakland Wiki volunteers personally have tried and recommend.

• Brown Sugar Kitchen (CLOSED) (some of the BEST waffles and fried chicken in the San Francisco Bay Area!)

• De Lauer's Newsstand (offers a wide selection of newspapers from around the world, 24/7)

• Elyssium Skin Care (offers Laser Hair Removal, HydraFacials and Spa Services)

• Gondola Servizio (gondola rides on Lake Merritt ... evenings are best time with the reflection of the beautiful Necklace of Lights)

• Institute for Urban Homesteading (fun and informative classes on making cheese, preserves, and much more)

• Lake Merritt Boating Center (boat rides and boating lessons on Lake Merritt for all ages)

• Oakland Ice Center (ice skating rink offering public skating, classes and youth ice hockey; great birthday party venue)

• Trapeze Arts (classes in a variety of aerial arts, great birthday party venue)

• White Brothers Mill (family owned lumber mill since 1872)

• MIGHTYminnow Web Studio & School (Offers website development and design. Teaches web classes to small businesses who need to get a website up quickly.)

• Safe and Sound Security (A commercial security system installer, integrator and provider serving businesses in the Oakland Area.)

• 1200 Lakeshore (a luxury apartment building on the shore of Lake Merritt)

--> What does everyone think about an Oakland Wiki page devoted to promoting small, locally owned businesses?  Many are wonderful companies employing local Oaklanders, but have a difficult time staying in Oakland or staying in business due to the high Bay Area costs, such as real estate space, etc.  Individual Oakland Wiki pages could highlight positive attributes as well as be listed on the Oakland Wiki "Small Business Directory" page. 

Would be a win/win, both for Oakland Wiki and the small businesses, driving more internet traffic to both.  As Oakland Wiki grows, small businesses might consider including a link to Oakland Wiki on their website.

Not suggesting another huge Yelp like directory, just something to show small individual businesses we love that Oakland Wiki is here for them and has their back.

Perhaps this Directory could be similar to those pages tagged "history" that create their own list, if we were to tag individual business pages we recommend "small business" to automatically fill this Small Business Directory as an alphabetical UL.  [someone to add code?]

Maybe each week the Front Page could spotlight the Oakland Wiki Small Business of the Week, and one of the Oakland Wiki volunteers could go out and interview the owner(s) before it appears as the featured business.

BTW, does Oakland Wiki have business cards with the web address and contact telephone number?

Thoughts/Suggestions??

• I love this idea! More thoughts:
  • I'd be in favor of adding to individual business pages something similar to the comments section that we've been using on user pages to allow members of the community to post about their experiences.
  • Great idea to use tags on individual business pages. Would "locally owned" be more specific to what we want than "small business"? Would be open to other suggestions.
  • Love the idea of featuring local businesses on the homepage and interviewing business owners (would also encourage taking photos of the establishment with the business owner's permission). Although we don't have cards, we now have fantastic stickers that say "oaklandwiki.org." We can definitely give these out to local businesses we patron and let them know that they are in the small business directory. Also, we have an opportunity to begin collaborating with Oakland Local on a regular column. This would be a potential item to cover in the column.
  • Finally, there are many groups in Oakland that work on encouraging buying from local businesses (Oaklandish, Oakland Grown, etc.). There are definitely opportunities for partnerships here! - mk30