SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio — As the holiday season fast approaches, Heights-Hillcrest Regional Chamber of Commerce communities are reminding people to remember to shop local. As such, HRCC member communities have designated the period through the week of Dec. 6 Shop Local Month and Nov. 27 Small Business Saturday, and have named a “Unique Boutique of the Week” for each of its communities throughout Shop Local Month
HRCC Executive Director Karen Schaefer said the annual holiday promotion is held to publicize small businesses, and is particularly needed this year after the past year and a half.
“It’s really important because these stores need the publicity,” Schaefer said of the campaign. “And since COVID hit, we’ve found that many, many, many of the businesses, not just the (HRCC) businesses, but the businesses in the area, their biggest drive is that they needed more marketing because they’ve been focused on keeping their doors open. So, we at the chamber, that’s what we did, as much as we could. We tried to market them. This is another avenue to market them. It doesn’t cost anyone money, but brings a great amount of results to the businesses.”
For six years, HRCC and its member communities — South Euclid, Lyndhurst, University Heights, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and Richmond Heights — have held Small Business Saturday, in which participating local small businesses conduct specials as an inducement for residents to consider them as an alternative to online or big box chain shopping.
“It’s not like the big boxes have cornered the market on good pricing,” said Lyndhurst Mayor Patrick Ward. “And especially these days, the supply chain being what it is, we’re all paying more for something. We do have great small businesses here, and (wife) Judy and I try to support them.
“If we’ve learned nothing else from the past two years it’s that local community is extremely important. The contributions that local businesses make to our well being and our economy is huge and can’t be understated,” Ward said. “Certainly there is a place for online shopping, or the larger stores — and larger store are in our community, as well. But we’ve found there is great variety and great value in our local businesses.”
In 2020, because people were reticent to enter stores because of the pandemic, the HRCC and its member communities, implemented the six-week Unique Boutique of the Week program, designed to highlight online a particular business in each community for one week each. Shoppers are encouraged to learn about the Unique Boutiques of the Week on the business’s, home city and HRCC websites.
“It’s an opportunity for each city to really…
Read More: Shop Local Month is here: Communities, Heights-Hillcrest Regional Chamber