ENGLEWOOD, N.J.—“Skip the mall and shop small” is the message being broadcast loud and clear by the Englewood Chamber of Commerce (ECC).
To make local shopping easier and more enjoyable this holiday season the ECC arranged for free metered parking from Wednesday, Nov. 27 through Sunday, Dec. 1 and Friday, Dec. 20 through Tuesday, Dec. 31, as well as lots of bargains in stores and restaurants.
Chamber President Carol Rauscher is hoping that people heed this call to support local businesses.
“The concept of Shop Small initiated by American Express is to encourage people to shop their local community stores during the holidays. There is always a reason to visit Englewood, so we are urging residents and visitors to avoid the crowds and traffic at the malls and shop Englewood for unique boutiques, great restaurants and entertainment at bergenPAC,” she said.
Shoppers in Englewood do indeed have plenty of opportunities. As the city’s tag line heralds, “Englewood—A place for everyone,” all residents and visitors can enjoy shopping throughout the holiday season with personalized service and special customer promotions at many stores and dine on a huge choice of restaurant cuisines.
The Shop Small in Englewood campaign officially kicked off on Saturday, Nov. 30, in conjunction with the nationwide Small Business Saturday that takes place in between the consumer frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Shop Small Business Saturday has been a huge success throughout the country since it began 10 years ago. That first weekend, millions came out to support to their local business, and the trend continues to grow.
In 2012, the U.S. Senate adopted a resolution “designating Nov. 24, 2012, as ‘Small Business Saturday, and it was one of the most tweeted topics on Twitter. Even President Barack Obama participated by visiting local bookstores and tweeting about his family’s shopping excursion.
This year, on Small Business Saturday, 31 stores and restaurants in Englewood welcomed customers from all over Bergen County. Here are scenarios from just a few:
• In Portage, a boutique that sells a wide array of pocketbooks and jewelry, one of the first customers of the day, Linda Michelson, exclaimed, “It’s great to be able to walk here from our house. In Englewood, you get great shopping at great prices!” Michelson received a free gift worth $60 with her $250 purchase. Portage was also offering 30% to 50% off select items to support Shop Small.
• Marcia Dominguez, an owner of Buckley’s Pharmacy and Mardo’s Gifts, said she likes Shop Small because it brings a lot of new as well as regular customers for holiday shopping. The two-story store is filled with costume jewelry, fragrant soaps, clothing and pocketbooks, gift items, greeting cards, stuffed animals and children’s clothing.
According to Dominguez, “People tell us that they love our excellent service and that we have unique pieces. We make shopping stress free and fun. This year, people are eager to buy anything that has to do with baby sharks or “Frozen!”
• As part of the Shop Small campaign, Mardo’s Gifs had a holiday catalog with great deals and valuable coupons that can be found at buckleysrx.com. There are also weekly raffle prizes with drawing on Monday mornings for the previous week starting Monday, Dec. 9 through Monday, Dec. 23.
In sync with the Shop Small campaign, IHOP restaurant is offering a free $5 bonus card with the purchase of a $25 gift card. On Nov. 30, by noon, the restaurant was packed with dozens of families enjoying pancakes, burgers and other lunch selections.
• Palisade Jewelers, a seller of watches, fine jewelry and precious metals since 1947, was filled with customers as well as family and friends of owner Ron Lieberman. Their Shop Small promotion offered 25% off new fine jewelry. The store is known for their personalized service and affordable prices.
A longtime customer, Niel Brandmaier said, “I like buying watches here that are pre-owned and very high quality and the price is always great. You can never get that anyplace else!”
Englewood’s Shop Small campaign is essential to its retails stores in the face of the huge competition from Amazon and other online venues as well as large chain stores and malls.
Lieberman, the longtime owner of Palisade Jewelers, tells it like it is: “If people don’t buy in Englewood, it will be ‘bye bye’ Englewood!”
Fortunately, the city’s downtown remains a vibrant holiday shopping hub where people who think “small” reap big benefits.
For a directory of all the stores participating in Shop Small, a map and a list of special offerings, visit www.englewood.org or call (201) 567-2381. You can also get information about Shop Small by logging on to the ECC’s Facebook and Instagram sites.
