The success of Shoe Crazy Wine, a Black woman-owned business, can truly be attributed to the resiliency and dedication of founders Gwen Hurt and her daughter Brittny. Despite a professional setback and a severe car accident in 2013, the Hurt women found new energy in creating a new business that combined their love of wine and shoes. By 2019 Shoe Crazy Wine was growing steadily and increasing its retail accounts.
Shoe Crazy Wine
Mother-Daughter Team Start Up Again
Where: Richmond, VA
Project Type: Working Capital
“I would wholeheartedly recommend [Bridging Virginia] to businesses that are typically shut out of access to traditional banking and capital.”
However, when COVID-19 began to disrupt small businesses across the country in 2020, the Hurts once again needed to get resourceful. They started by pursuing options at traditional banks but couldn’t secure the capital they needed. Because they had liquidated their assets in order to establish the businesses, even with Shoe Crazy Wine’s success they couldn’t meet the requirements for more traditional lenders.
Bridging Virginia was able to provide Shoe Crazy Wine with a much-needed capital infusion to keep the Hurts self-distributing product to major retailers across 11 states.
Since then, Shoe Crazy Wine has been featured in major local and national news outlets, showcasing Gwen and Brittny as entrepreneurial leaders in their community.