hi from nora!
I’m here with some Babe’s news - a lot has been happening behind the scenes! In this post you’ll find updates about our crowdfunding campaign, recent press coverage, and info on our opening timeline! Most importantly: We've passed the $50,000 mark for our crowdfunding campaign! We are hoping to raise $20,000 more in the next few weeks. You can help us get there by sharing the campaign with your networks and telling them why a space like Babe’s is important to you!Read on for more, or click below to be taken directly to our crowdfunding page!be our bff
✨
be our bff ✨
Update #1: Crowdfunding Campaign Extended through November + Closing Party!
Our crowdfunding campaign had been scheduled for a four week sprint, ending on Halloween. Turns out there’s nothing spookier than the city of Chicago’s zoning policies (more on that below). We’ve had to unexpectedly focus on that this month, making it hard to run our campaign at the same time. We’ve been so in awe that, despite our distraction, we’ve still received over $50,000 in donations! Seeing Babe’s resonate with so many people has been really special. I’m picking up the Limited Edition BFF Tees this week and they are going to be goooood (and could be yours for $100!!!!). We’re extending the closing date for our campaign into late November to make sure we have time to do proper outreach and spread the word even more. Stay tuned for details on the closing party and our *official closing date* to make sure you don't miss out!Update #2: Babe’s in the News
Choose your medium: radio, newspaper, television! The highlight of this media blitz was successfully participating in an interview with Sasha-Ann Simons live on WBEZ and not saying one single swear word!! Jk, the highlight was sharing the space with the co-owner of Whiskey Girl Tavern, Heather Roberts:
The linked stories above give a peek into the vision we have for our space (vintage varsity! futurism! universal design!), and the donations to our crowdfunding campaign will go toward the renovation to make that vision a reality <3Update #3: Timeline for Opening
I’ve been crafting my mental op-ed about how Chicago city services disproportionately disadvantage small businesses (did you know if you want your zoning or license application to be heard sooner than your assigned date, you can hire an “expediter” for thousands of dollars in the hopes they can sweet talk their buddies into shuffling your application around??), but you should know that the Babe’s Management Team (aka Torra, me, and the crew of lawyers working on this with us) is getting really fluent in city zoning ordinances. We are on the agenda (without paying an expensive “expediter” tyvm) for the December Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, which will hopefully result in our conditional liquor license, which will become official once the ordinance lifting the liquor moratorium on our block is lifted. Easy peasy!!! (Also WOW local elections are important - make sure you vote on Tuesday PLEASE!)
Renovation will start mid December (interested in lending some manual labor to our demolition? Email nora@babeschicago.com with subject “DEMO HELP”!) with the goal of being open by early March and fully operational by March Madness :) Watch our instagram and your inbox for crowdfunding updates (including date and location of closing party!). Thanks for sticking around through these updates, we love you!xoxoxo,noraps: please feel FREE to forward this post to anyone who loves women’s sports :):):)