We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Edie Weintraub. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Edie below.

Edie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

As a business owner guiding restaurants, retailers, and entertainment companies in the Southeast, I embody an entrepreneurial spirit with a passion for fostering community growth through strategic location planning. The challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship are deeply ingrained in my professional identity.

Reflecting on the dual paths of business ownership and traditional employment, I constantly weigh the autonomy, creativity, and impact of leading my company against the structure and predictability of a “regular” job. However, my dedication to local small business growth and creating walkable urban and suburban communities and the flexibility I have to be decisive outweigh the sameness of working for someone else.

In fact, it was during the pandemic that I resolved to start my company, one led and owned by women to foster other entrepreneurial women in commercial real estate. To date, my team and I feel immense fulfillment of shaping environments that resonate with our values and aspirations – that everyone should have a seat at the table.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m an insatiably curious individual. I stalked a company for 18 months before they finally relented in taking me on as a mentee in 2005. They saw that if I wasn’t going to give up on them, I was a strong advocate for my future clients.

My company offers comprehensive advisory services that blend market analysis, trend forecasting, and human-centric design principles. We’re dedicated to finding the perfect locations for our clients, ensuring their businesses thrive by connecting with their target audience effectively. We advise them on upgrades to their customer experience as well by secret shopping them to make sure they are performing on all cylinders.

What sets us apart is our deep understanding of walkable urban and suburban environments and our ability to foresee emerging trends in the hospitality and retail sectors. This insight allows us to guide our clients through the complexities of site selection, market entry, and brand positioning, ensuring they achieve sustainable growth and success.

I am most proud of the positive impact my company has had on local communities, helping to transform spaces into vibrant, engaging areas that people love to explore and return to. For potential clients, followers, and fans, I want them to know that our company, terra alma, stands for innovation, community enhancement, and the empowerment of local businesses.

Our mission is to create environments that not only meet today’s needs but are also adaptable to tomorrow’s trends and challenges.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

As a tenant representative for restaurants, 2020 was not the best time to be 100% focused on restaurant expansion. While I aided my clients in seeking rent relief during this time, I recognized the changing landscape of real estate and consumer preferences.

As walkable, community-focused environments gained popularity, I saw an opportunity to expand my impact and relationships with local retail and restaurant owners. I began collaborating with landlords and developers, advising them on how to create dynamic, multifunctional spaces that attract and retain visitors. My role evolved beyond securing spaces for individual tenants and also into shaping entire developments and food halls.

This transition marked a significant expansion of our services and local retail influence. I became instrumental in curating food halls throughout the country (Chattahoochee Food Works, Politan Row, Halidom and Chamblee Tap and Market) by selecting a mix of vendors that not only offered diverse culinary experiences but also contributed to the location’s character and appeal. My work took into consideration an holistic approach to development, blending my understanding of the restaurant industry with strategic place-making to foster thriving, cohesive communities.

Through this evolution, I maintained your core values of enhancing spaces and creating meaningful experiences, effectively bridging the gap between tenant representation and large-scale development advisory. This journey not only diversified my expertise but also solidified my role as local expert in shaping the future of retail and hospitality environments.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

There’s nothing I love more than meeting new people. It’s a burst of energy getting to know someone new and even more dynamic when they become a friend and/or client. Of the 15 meals per week that we all count on, I have committed to at least 5 of these being meetings with new people. In addition, I host private dinners for women entrepreneurs and small business owners. My team and I have client and vendor appreciation dinners each quarter to connect our clients to one another. It’s amazing what a domino effect our work can have and how quickly the good news spreads. In fact, many of our clients have opted to collaborate with one another over the years. I feel immense pride when this magic happens.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.edieeverywhere.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edieeverywhere/
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/edieeverywhere
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/edieeverywhere
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@terraalmaboutiqueretailadv9615