Communities rally around local stores during the holidays
Groups across Wayne County including the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Wooster and the Orrville Area Chamber of Commerce created new initiatives to support local businesses this holiday season. They succeeded in promoting locally owned businesses, and many stores have reported the promotions had a positive impact.
Area communities came together to show their support for small, locally owned stores and restaurants over the holiday season in Wayne County. Groups across the county including the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Wooster and the Orrville Area Chamber of Commerce created new initiatives to support local this year. They succeeded in promoting locally owned businesses, and many stores have reported the promotions had a positive impact.
While shop local campaigns have been popular for many years, this year they had to be reimagined under the new circumstances. With the impacts from the pandemic, along with increasing competition from online retailers, it was clear local businesses would need additional support this year.
“In the past we've tried to focus on Shop Small Saturday — promoting people to go out and support small business the Saturday after Thanksgiving," said Samira Zimmerly, president of the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce. "This year with the impact of COVID-19 on everyone and especially our small businesses, we knew we needed to really rally around them throughout the entire holiday season.”
This was the first year the chamber started its new Loyal to Local Passport program. Stores would stamp the passport to confirm the exact value of purchases made, and the goal was to fill each passport with $250 in spending at local stores. Once that goal was reached, consumers would submit their passport to the chamber to be entered in a drawing for a prize.
“When you try something new, you never know how it will go. We had over 70 businesses participate and over 750 passports submitted," Zimmerly said. "Since we knew that $250 is the amount you need to reach for a filled-in passport, that means we can really track the impact. We can show that over $187,000 was spent locally.
"We knew it was doing well because even in the first week of the program, businesses were reaching out to us and asking for more passports because they had already run out. We know that without that support, some of those businesses simply would not be here now.”
The winners of the prizes were Kelly Covey, who won a Day of Beauty at Sheer Professionals, and James Dewald, winner of the Downtown Experience. The chamber also ran a Let It Glow holiday lights competition and a Holiday Mask Contest to boost morale and encourage a general excitement about supporting the community.
Main Street Wooster also had a full sequence of support local promotions throughout the holiday season. While Main Street Wooster always supports the local downtown businesses during the holidays, this year it had to make a lot of changes and develop new ideas that would allow for safe social distancing.
Window Wonderland is a favorite of many Wooster residents. To continue the tradition this year, it extended the time period for the event to reduce crowding. Downtown Wooster businesses have reported this year’s Window Wonderland was a success.
“Merchants felt that it generated a substantial amount of foot traffic," John Benko-Scruggs of Main Street Wooster said. "They liked that it was stretched out over a longer window this year. One owner said that since it was a longer window, he noticed people browsing more and making purchases. In a normal year they would rush in and out."
The Elf Scavenger Hunt was another new program. “Forty businesses participate, so 40 elves were distributed through downtown, and everyone loved it," said Shannon Waller, executive director of Main Street Wooster. "Businesses said that a lot of families with children came through, and lots of people said that they went into places that they hadn't been into before.”
Other Main Street Wooster promotions included the 12 Days of Gift Giving and the Shop Small Woo Tag Competition. Having a diverse mix of promotions proved to be a smart approach, as each promotion attracted different people.
The Orrville Area Chamber of Commerce also developed a mix of programs to support local this year.
“We tried to raise awareness of the importance of where you spend your holiday dollars and why it matters," said Lori Reinbolt, president of the Orrville Area Chamber of Commerce. "We had a multi-pronged approach, where we encourage people to make a pledge to shop local during the holidays. We also had a challenge to purchase something local, post on social media, give it as a gift to a friend and get a friend to pay it forward.
“Just because the holidays are over, our small local businesses are still in need of your support. Where you spend your dollars matters, and we all need to spend more time to think about where our items come from."