After running a successful community supported fishery (CSF) and a seafood wholesale business for more than a year in Brooklyn, opening a seafood market seemed to be the next logical step for husband-and-wife team Mark Usewicz and Bianca Piccillo.
Plus, there is a strong demand for fresh seafood outlets in Brooklyn, Usewicz and Piccillo discovered. Soon after they moved to their Prospect Heights neighborhood seven years ago, they realized that there were not a lot of high quality fish markets to be found.
“We had to go to Manhattan to go get fish. The line at our local fish market was a half-hour long, and most of the fresh seafood would be sold out by the time we got off work at night,” Piccillo said.
After gauging interest from residents of their neighborhood, Usewicz and Piccillo formed a business plan and invested their own money to build the 1,400-square-feet Mermaid’s Garden fish market, slated to open this month in Prospect Heights. They also are trying to raise USD 15,000 (EUR 11,072) through a Kickstarter fund to help with building and operating expenses. As of 7 October the fund had reached USD 11,381 (EUR 8,400) through 106 investors.
Click here to read the full story that ran in the November issue of SeaFood Business >
