'Supporting each other': 3 Baltimore vendors join forces to open Cosmic City Co-op in Hampden

BALTIMORE, Md. — BALTIMORE — Three Baltimore small business owners are joining forces to open a cooperative retail space in Hampden.

Stacey Fields Goldberg and Shannon Nickey run Bmore Cosmic, a thrifted goods shop. Jason Collins runs City Rat Records, a record pop-up.

The three met over the summer while working different markets and began talking about sharing a permanent space.

"We started talking about providing a space for us to come in and work together to have a joint space to be able to get out of this market circuit we were doing, and then that turned into this idea of providing an opportunity for other vendors and creatives," Collins said.

The result is Cosmic City Co-op, a shared retail space where individual vendors rent small sections and keep all of their own profits.

"Each space will be a different vendor with their products, and we'll rent each of those little spaces to each vendor, and then they get all the profits from it instead of us taking a commission," Nickey said.

The trio launched a fundraiser at the start of September to cover startup costs and quickly raised several thousand dollars.

"Everybody's super excited between other vendors who are just really excited about the opportunity, just our supporters in general," Fields Goldberg said.

For Nickey, the co-op is also a personal investment in the future.

Shannon Nickey

"We have a son with autism, so we kind of wanted to create something that he could learn how to work in and have a career opportunity for when he gets older," she said. "I hope after we're up and running that we can offer that opportunity to all of these adult services."

The founders say the response from the community has reinforced their commitment to the project and the mission goes beyond retail.

"Community supporting each other, supporting people in need. If we can provide a space for our own businesses as well as a space for other people's businesses to gain exposure, that's community," Collins said.

The team is aiming to have Cosmic City Co-op open in time for the holiday season. To donate to their GoFundMe, click here.

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