Upscale Shopping Guide, SHOPDC, Debuts

College Park April 4, 2005 Shoppers visiting Washington DC now have a great, new resource for upscale shopping, dining and activities. SHOPDC, a magazine owned and managed by Rawlins Media. The publications launch this month follows a $7,000 investment from the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, to second-year MBA student and SHOPDC founder, Zoey Rawlins. The investment was part of the seed stage funding the center makes available to student-run, start-up companies.

The upscale magazine, to be published bi-annually and available in area luxury hotels at no cost to visitors, will include timely information on high-end retail shops, spas and galleries. Rawlins an experienced shopper herself founded the publication after recognizing a need for local information geared toward the high-end tourist market.

Its got the look and feel of Town & Country, but tailored to the Washington DC market, said Rawlins.

The Dingman Center was an instrumental resource in getting the magazine off the ground. Rawlins idea for the publication grew out of an exercise called the Dingman Process a step-by-step approach to finding gaps in a market and developing products or services to meet consumers needs. The Dingman process provides a framework for the development of an idea into a viable business concept.

This is a prime example of how the Dingman Center helps area and student entrepreneurs through every step of creating and growing a business or what we call ideation, assessment, implementation and iteration as part of the Dingman Process, said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center.

The Dingman Center, a nationally-recognized, leading entrepreneurial center, assists students and regional entrepreneurs with expertise, resources and funding. As part of the centers mission in nurturing regional entrepreneurialism, students are eligible to compete for $50,000 of seed stage funding per year. Investments are determined on a case-by-case basis with a maximum investment of $10,000.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, is one of the first and leading entrepreneurial centers in the nation. The Dingman Center has facilitated, supported and guided entrepreneurs in the Mid-Atlantic region since 1986. More information about the Dingman Center can be found at www.rhsmith.umd.edu/dingman.

About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research for the digital economy. The school offers cross-functional study options in its six academic departments, which include accounting and information assurance; decision and information technologies; finance; logistics, business, and public policy; management and organization; and marketing. More information about the Robert H. Smith School of Business can be found at http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu. 

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