In 2000, Katherine and Bob Riolo were selling birdhouses on the side of the road in Corrales. Now they run a full-service entrepreneur co-op. Without meaning to, Katherine Riolo admits, they’ve pioneered a new business incubator. “Definitely by accident,” she laughs.

The ABQ Collective, located at Eubank and Constitution, houses 13 local small businesses including a barber and hair salon, Rust is Gold coffeeshop, and an outdoor space hosting weekly popup markets and food truck events.  

“When we first started this, we had no idea what we were doing,” Katherine Riolo says, still in disbelief that their vision has become a reality. The Riolos gutted and remodeled a 6,000-square foot warehouse, the old showroom of Southwest Furniture and Lighting. Now the space is strung with Edison bulbs, divided into stalls with aged wood panels, and filled with vibrant colors and textures. She walks the lively corridor of entrepreneur booths and points to hand-hammered jewelry, velvet vintage furniture, collectable vinyl records, and stacks of woven textiles. “Everyone here is local, and so talented. We all want to help each other succeed.” 

Crowd enjoying coffee and conversation at Rust is Gold coffee shop, a member of The ABQ Collective. 

Bob Riolo, ABQ Collective co-owner, has been an entrepreneur all his life. For the past twenty years he’s been honing his craft as a woodworker. “Put him on the moon with two sticks and he’d start a business,” Katherine Riolo says. After decades of setting up shop on street corners and traveling to artisan fairs with bird houses and custom-built furniture, Katherine and Bob understand first-hand the exhausting cycles of tradeshow life. 

“We know what it’s like to unpack, repack, load, and reload the truck every weekend,” Katherine Riolo says. In response, they wanted to create a space where artisans could sell their crafts without the constant setup and breakdown, and without sacrificing revenue to heavy commissions or high rents. 

An Accidental Incubator

Take the story of Laurene Rodriguez of Mariposa Marketing. Like so many others, she wandered into The ABQ Collective one day, and struck up a conversation with the Riolos. 

“Laurene walked in and offered to do social media or a website as a trade. I put a desk right here,” Katherine Riolo opens her arms and mimes a large rectangle in the center of the hallway. “She started meeting with clients, and it was like fishing in a bucket.” 

“That desk was technically my first office,” Rodriguez beams, “I was so proud.” Mariposa Marketing specializes in budget marketing for small businesses and startups, but before she had a dedicated space, Rodriguez was driving hours across town to meet clients at their offices. Now she has her own booth at The ABQ Collective, and has added three sales associates to her team. 

“It’s definitely a non-traditional office space, sometimes we’re talking over hair dryers at the salon next door,” Rodriguez laughs, “but that’s so fitting for our business. We are in the trenches with our customers.”

In the first months after opening, these mutually beneficial relationships just kept materializing. Riolo points to Renée Regal of gelatina di vino, who makes wine jellies. Regal is also a business operations manager and offered to do the Collective’s bookkeeping and accounting. When Jacquline Maxwell of Maxwell Made moved in, she used her experience as a designer and decorative painter to help style The ABQ Collective’s interior. And Rodriguez of Mariposa Marketing now handles the Collective’s social media and promotions. 

Mariposa Marketing Bar inside The ABQ Collective

Riolo says she enlisted the help of these entrepreneurs simply because “I didn’t know how to do it by myself!” In doing so, she’s created a successful co-op incubator built entirely on symbiotic relationships like these. “It truly is a collective. That’s what makes us so strong, and so special.”

Learning By Doing

The team holds monthly vendor meetings to share resources, exchange ideas on what’s working, and offer insights on how to improve. Katherine and Bob Riolo have, by virtue of interacting and collaborating with the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem, become fluent in startup resources like SCORE, WESST, and the South Valley Economic Development Center. They now help direct new applicants to startup resources or other incubation programs. “And if I don’t know how to help, I’ll be Googling it right alongside you,” Riolo says. “We’re all depending on each other to make this thing work. It’s invigorating.”

“I had never sold jellies before,” says Renée Regal of gelatina di vino. “I had to learn how to create a product, track inventory, get food licenses. But it was such a safe space to experiment. We are all learning side-by-side.” 

Gelatia Di Vino, a member of The ABQ Collective, features custom wine jellies.

Starting with a tray of samples during the Thanksgiving shopping season, Regal was able to test the market, get feedback on flavors, and develop new recipes with customer feedback. Now she’s selling out of 100-jar batches at a time. “In 2019 I didn’t even know what a hashtag was,” Regal says. “So Laurene at Mariposa taught me, and now helps with my social media. I love that there’s no hierarchy, everyone is here helping each other.”

The ABQ Collective has no size requirement for entry-level entrepreneurs. Incubation can begin on the smallest scale. Artisans can start with just one product, displayed on one shelf. As they gain their footing, they can become a popup market vendor, then potentially move into an indoor stall. The ABQ Collective provides space, affordable rent, full-time staff, and requires only a small service fee on purchases. Many of the business owners express relief that they don’t have to be present during store hours. “They just get a check at the end of the month,” Katherine Riolo says.  

Onyx Dynamics, for example, started sales with a single shelf. His stock continued to sell out. “Seeing the sales exceed my expectations really built my confidence,” says business owner Maurice Ford. 

Custom-made PVC patch (center) from Onyx Dynamics

Last year Ford moved into a 10’x12’ booth, and now sells a full line of custom-made PVC patches. With a full-time day job as an HR professional, he illustrates on his lunch break and fills Onyx orders after hours. “The Collective is so supportive and the rent is so affordable that I can dedicate myself to creating,” Ford says. “My business gets all this exposure, but I don’t have to hire staff to run it. You can’t get that anywhere else.” 

This type of growth is exactly what Katherine and Bob Riolo had hoped for. The goal of The ABQ Collective is to be a launch pad, not a landing place. “Ideally, I want these businesses to become so successful that they outgrow us,” Katherine Riolo says.