50 of 50
BACKNEXT
Wilmington, NC
Wilmington, NC
Star Sosa
Spectrum Art & Jewelry

From 1987 to 1996, I was a self-employed jewelry designer and manufacturer in Santa Fe. By the early '90s, Santa Fe's real estate and tourism were in downward cycles. Fashion styles shifted, and offshore jewelry manufacturers mimicked my style for a lower price. I had to reinvent my career.

In 1997, I came to North Carolina to see if Chapel Hill would be a good fit for my new business. On a whim, I decided I wanted to see the beach -- even though it was January. So my friend and I drove to Wilmington for the day.

It was charming as heck.

I only had the clothes on my back, but we found a hotel. By the week's end, I leased a business space and made an offer on a house. I opened my store, Spectrum Art & Jewelry, in May 1997.

Unfortunately, within my first three years of business, there were five named hurricanes that landed directly on Wilmington, which made me question my decision to move here.

But Wilmington has a vibrant arts and tourism industry. The business climate was warm and accepting compared to Santa Fe, where competition was fierce, even among friends. Within the Wilmington arts community, we are cordial and have an unspoken agreement to not step on each other's toes with our products.

I watched Wilmington develop over the last 12 years. It's still not a great community for jobs, but it is an attractive business climate and an excellent community for creative people. -Christina Crapanzano

See complete data for Wilmington, NC

More galleries

Email | Print | Share  |  RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
LAST UPDATE: Oct 20 2009 | 9:39 AM ET
Best launch spots: See all 50 Growing economies, great workers, stable housing markets -- these metro areas have what entrepreneurs need to thrive. More
Tax havensWant to keep more of your profits? Check out these 5 states, where taxes are low -- and in some cases, nonexistent. More
5 deadly spots Every restaurateur knows about Cursed Locations. Here's a look at 4 trying to break the streak -- and one that failed. More
Sponsors

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.