Prime Highlights-
- All three collectives are fully occupied, together housing 38 women-owned businesses across the Buffalo region.
- Forness runs five businesses in total, blending her own ventures with the collectives she has built.
Key Facts-
- Forness opened Hiraeth House, Valvaere Collective and She Gathers between 2021 and 2025.
- Hiraeth House spans 3,557 square feet and operates as a by-appointment shopping space for women entrepreneurs.
Background-
Buffalo entrepreneur Megan Forness has built three collectives that together house 38 women-owned businesses, all fully occupied. Forness, who runs two businesses of her own, opened the spaces between 2021 and 2025, including Hiraeth House on Delaware Avenue in Allentown, Valvaere Collective on Main Street in Buffalo, and She Gathers on Webster Street in North Tonawanda.
Each collective carries its own identity, shaped by the spaces Forness finds and the communities female business owners can build within them. She said the work brings her deep fulfilment, describing it as rewarding in ways that are hard to put into words.
Forness, a Kenmore native, spent a decade in retail and three years in operations management before stepping into entrepreneurship, experience she credits with shaping her approach to running five businesses today.
In 2019, she opened Barre[tend], a barre and yoga studio, which sparked the idea of housing multiple businesses under one roof. The Delaware Avenue location offered extra space, leading her to bring in female-owned wellness businesses alongside her studio.
In 2021, Hiraeth House opened as a 3,557-square-foot by-appointment shopping space for women business owners. Forness inherited the property from her father in 2017, which gave the venture added personal significance.
Beyond the jobs and services her businesses bring to the region, Forness has built spaces where women entrepreneurs can lean on each other for support, advice and mentorship. That kind of network, built through her three collectives, has helped give local female business owners a stronger foothold as they grow.
