About Mimi

In 2003, the unforgettable Mimi Vanderhaven met with a group of creative and passionate individuals to present her plan to launch a publication dedicated to what she termed, “Preserving retail diversity.” She believed that any community would embrace a publication that simultaneously supported quality locally owned businesses and treated its readers like ladies and gentlemen.

The result was the founding of Mimi Vanderhaven, a publication that doesn’t accept advertisements from major national chains, in favor of promoting the heroic efforts of those local entrepreneurs whose hearts are so filled with a destiny to serve that they have abandoned their cubicles to risk their life’s savings to follow their own paths. That same passionate mission is now being carried forth online at MimiVanderhaven.com.

Mimi’s values are rooted in a celebration of individual creativity, the magical connection between forgiveness and excellence, and a quirky insistence on doing everything exactly opposite from what is expected. About every two weeks, Mimi Vanderhaven is mailed to over 215,000 homes and businesses in Cleveland’s growing Westside suburbs, Medina County, and the affluent suburbs of Greater Akron. Plus, she has now an expanded reach to members of the exclusive Mimi's Press Club. Communities she serves include Medina, Strongsville, North Royalton, Brecksville, Richfield, Broadview Heights, Berea, Middleburg Heights, Columbia Station, Westlake, Bay Village, Avon, Avon Lake, Brunswick, Hinckley, Valley City, Fairlawn, Bath, Copley, West Akron, Sharon Center, Hudson, Twinsburg, Macedonia, Northfield, Sagamore Hills and more.

Because Mimi’s mission is to preserve retail diversity by helping quality locally owned businesses compete with chain stores, she regularly refuses advertising from large national chains. All advertisers must be able to demonstrate both local ownership and a commitment to quality. This passion for locally owned businesses has turned her print media business model on its head. For example, the highest advertising rate a business can pay at a traditional major metropolitan newspaper typically is the employment rate. But in Mimi’s magazine, help wanted ads placed by locally owned businesses are absolutely free. Here’s a quote from Sandy Croft, owner of Strongsville Mini-Storage: “I paid for a help wanted ad in the local paper and received one phone call. I ran the same ad in Mimi’s for free and stopped counting at 90 phone calls. There were easily over 100 responses.”

Also, Mimi’s editorial and advertising missions are perfectly aligned. This means her editorial resources are dedicated exclusively to presenting quality, locally owned businesses to her adoring fans. Plus, her calendar (in print and now online) is filled hundreds of community events. Claims one local politician, “I use Mimi’s Calendar every issue to decide which events to attend so I can interact with my constituents.” (See more testimonials)

And now that Mimi has expanded her mission to the web, her audience is growing to all of Northeast Ohio and beyond. If you're a business owner and would like to find out if your business qualifies to reach Mimi's dedicated fans, readers and Press Pass members, please e-mail Mimi and one one of her personal assistants will contact you with more information.

P.S. If you’ve made it this far, take the Mimi Challenge: Allow Mimi to blindfold you and place you in the heart of a major retail area in one of America’s large metropolitan markets. Remove the blindfold and you’ll see Olive Garden, Applebee’s, Walgreen’s, CVS, Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Papa Johns, Chipotle, etc.

Now, what city are you in?