When Annie Johnson first started her business, she was told collaboration is key.

"The only way that small businesses will ever be able to compete with like big box stores and Amazon is to work together," Johnson said. "So this is kind of an indication of that." 

Johnson's company, care package business Take Care South Bend, is one of five local businesses that now form The Portage Collective in South Bend's near northwest neighborhood. Other businesses include Raw Oats and Refillery, South Bend Challah Company, AndAubreyWas Studio and Mind Your Beeswax.

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The idea to form the collective didn't necessarily come from a desire to collaborate with other businesses, Kelly Bailey of Raw Oats and Refillery said. 

"Some of us were looking for a space, but, obviously, a whole building is kind of a bit excessive for just one or two businesses," she said. "So we were looking for other small businesses to join in with us, and from there, the collective formed."

Located at 905 Portage Avenue, the once single-family house has been transformed into a space that now allows each business owner to have their own corner space to highlight and sell goods.

At Raw Oats and Refillery, that's homemade cleaning supplies and beauty products. At Take Care South Bend, that's care packages made with South Bend-based artisan items that customers can now work more directly with the owner in creating. For South Bend Challah Company, that's freshly baked challah (pronounced haa-luh), babka and other Jewish-heritage goods. For AndAubreyWas Studio, that's space to purchase print and fiber art, as well as take classes and workshops. And for Mind Your Beeswax, customers can get beeswax balms, essential oil blends, herbal tea blends and more.

Operators say they also plan to offer a smaller space in the front of the building for other local businesses to also sell their goods.

The new collective sits directly across from the Ward Baking Company where developer Mike Keen plans to implement a similar idea and renovate the space where several shops, businesses, artists and other tenants can operate.

"(We have) the same landlord, but Mike is working on doing a shared space there," Bailey said. "This is that to a smaller degree, with a little bit more curb appeal."

"And they're not necessarily working as a collective," Johnson added. "They're independently renting space."

So what is the difference between a collective and a shared space? Operators of The Portage Collective say it's all centered around community.

"I think we're all working together to bring the neighborhood a little bit of everything," Bailey said. "We all talk together to make decisions about the space and things like that. I think that all of us have a lot of desire to do something that is well-rounded and something that we're all kind of working on."

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The collective also leans itself to the quintessential need of collaboration. Bailey and Johnson said they are already brainstorming ways to incorporate a Portage Collective care package through Take Care South Bend and businesses can also share an employee to be available for customer service, which will then allow the owners more time to produce more of their product. Currently, customers will have to have individual purchases at each store, meaning if you purchase tea from Mind Your Beeswax and challah from South Bend Challah Company, that would be two separate transactions, with operators comparing it to similarly to a farmer's market.

"There was no good way for us to do like one universal system for that," Bailey said. "It would have been a lot of extra leg work."

Planning to host a soft opening on Sept. 7, the business owners say they've already received largely supportive feedback from customers at a recent popup event, especially those living in the nearby neighborhood.

"It just felt like a lot of people were really excited about a place opening in their neighborhood that they can walk to," said Sheer Brown with South Bend Challah Company.

The Portage Collective will be open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with hours also varying on popup and workshop events.

Contact Mary Shown at 574-235-6244 and mshown@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @maryshownSBT and @marketbasketSBT.