Local Businesses Welcome Shoppers Saturday
Resident Sasha Murphy has organized the inaugural Shop the Shores event this Saturday.
Sasha Murphy is a proud supporter of local businesses, but it wasn't until she heard a member of City Council speak about an initiative to shop locally that she was inspired to create a shopping version of a pub crawl.
When Councilman Peter Rubino discussed the 3/50 project—where consumers pick three local businesses and spend $50—during a council meeting, she was inspired.
"I do shop local, but how can I get more people to shop local?" was a question she posed to herself.
Borrowing an idea she had seen in other communities, Murphy began meeting with local businesses to organize what became Shop the Shores crawl.
The crawl starts at 9:15 a.m. Saturday at Caffe Far Bella, and then participants will car pool or caravan through the city to businesses including Kitty Deluxe, Gilbert's Hardware, Circare, Harper Sports Shop, Comfortably Yours, Artisan Knitworks, Gifts Afloat, Urban Attic, and lunch at Ardmore Park Place Cafe.
"It is great they are doing this to help their community," said Blair Gilbert, owner of Gilbert's Hardware, of the organizers.
Gilbert will be offering free lawn bags and 40 percent off LED flashlights to participants in the crawl.
Murphy is hoping the first crawl will be a success, and hopes to expand the event to include a spring event and an even larger holiday shopping crawl in 2012.
For Caffe Far Bella owners Jack and Karen Palazzolo, the crawl is opportunity to welcome new customers into their business on Nine Mack Drive.
"It will be huge for us," Karen Palazzolo said. "Anything that can bring additional awareness is huge."
In This article
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Kitty Deluxe
22202 Harper Ave, Saint Clair Shores, MI (Look for the really cool Kitty Deluxe sign in front of the business) -
Gilbert's Hardware
21912 Harper Ave, Saint Clair Shores, MI -
Circare Inc
23024 Greater Mack Ave, Saint Clair Shores, MI -
Harper Sport Shop
23208 Greater Mack Ave, Saint Clair Shores, MI -
Comfortably Yours
23404 Greater Mack Ave, Saint Clair Shores, MI -
Gifts Afloat
25025 Jefferson Ave, Saint Clair Shores, MI
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Urban Attic
26717 Little Mack Ave, Saint Clair Shores, MI -
Caffe Far Bella
23233 Nine Mack Dr, Saint Clair Shores, MI
John Caron
9:03 am on Wednesday, November 9, 2011
This is a great event and a great way to help out local businesses in St Clair Shores.
Sasha Murphy
1:03 pm on Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Thank you Ed! You must RSVP for this event. Please email me before Saturday if you want to participate, shoptheshores@yahoo.com. Also check us out on Facebook. Just search "shop the shores" or "shop the shores crawl".
Sasha Murphy
1:21 pm on Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Special thanks to John Caron and Debbie Cottrell for helping to get this event up and running.