Business Growth Gallery opens with Edison Mall party

Lucy Quiñones throws a great party. 

The grand opening of her new business, Business Growth Gallery at Edison Mall in Fort Myers, was at once a high-energy networking event, Instagram-ready spectacle and inspirational-spiritual ceremony. 

Unlike most of the mall’s shops, Quiñones’ space near Macy’s men’s and children’s departments is not a retail store. 

A longtime Southwest Florida real estate professional and mentor, Quiñones described it as a “business intelligence and growth hub.” The Gallery sells a one-stop range of services dedicated to helping local businesses and entrepreneurs grow. 

“I want people to learn they have a place they can come to learn, grow, build and scale their business,” said Quiñones, who often goes by “Coach Lucy Q.” 

As attendees arrived Thursday evening, Oct. 1, mocktails and business cards flowed hand to hand and Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration” blasted through a DJ’s loudspeakers. A team of videographers captured the crowd while photographers sold on-the-spot business headshots. 

People packed into a corner of the otherwise quiet mall between a clothing store and a jewelry retailer, where Quiñones, family, friends, associates and officials celebrated the occasion. 

Quiñones also is known for her Southwest Florida Real Estate & Business Academy, which offers real estate licensing courses. She said her new Gallery is aimed at all types of businesses as they navigate growth. 

That includes helping clients gain visibility through an increasing number of traditional and virtual media channels, be it artificial intelligence-powered search platforms, Zoom calls or print newspapers. 

Quiñones represents “someone to guide you through that and keep a watchful eye on it,” said Cape Coral City Council member Bill Steinke, who attended the opening. 

“One of the biggest things people fight for in today’s business world is visibility,” he said. “It’s easy to get lost in space, so to speak.” 

Other supporters and visitors at the gathering included Verónica Montoya, general manager of El Gaucho Inca Restaurant in Fort Myers; Max Tymoshyn, founder of web design firm Norml Studio; Silvia Diez, president of the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; and Steve Weathers, Fort Myers economic development director. 

Weathers said he wants the Gallery to have a symbiotic relationship with the city’s small-business incubator, Southwest Florida Enterprise Center. 

“Really the backbone of our community and our business is everybody in this audience, which is small business,” Weathers told the crowd during his remarks at the ceremony. 

“We rely more on companies with 50 or fewer employees than we really do on the large ones. So, I just want to say congratulations. Please work with this business here.” 

Before cutting the official ribbon, Quiñones took the stage in a gold dress — matching the Gallery’s decor — alongside her husband, Rey Quiñones. 

Word of Life Ministries founder and Bishop Gaspar Anastasi led the crowd in prayer before Coach Lucy Q offered a blessing for Edison Mall’s businesses. 

“We’re going to open doors,” she said. “We’re going to make a way. We’re going to have a marketplace rise up — prosper!”