Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
‘Shop Small’ launches second round
Effort keeps focus on area businesses that may be struggling financially
POTTSTOWN » A new “Shop Small to Win Big” initiative has been launched to keep attention focused on small businesses impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic — and to make winners out of a couple of people.
The new initiative is again being organized by Chris Lerch, director of marketing for SportsPlex Management Group, which owns the 422 SportsPlex in Pottstown. Information about the effort is posted on the Hello 422 Facebook page. Lerch came up with the idea originally as a way to do something to help small business owners that were being affected financially by the spread of the virus.
“There is still a need to keep the focus on these small businesses. The longer this goes, the more important this becomes,” Lerch said.
Once again area businesses have donated gift cards to the effort. To be eligible to win, entrants will make purchases between May 18 and May 24 of at least $50 from participating businesses and will submit their receipts to Lerch. A winner will be chosen May 25.
Lerch said that while there have been a couple of tweaks to the program, what hasn’t changed is the interest from businesses.
In the first iteration of the effort, a total of 92 area businesses each donated $100 gift cards.
By Thursday night, 90 businesses had signed on for round two. Lerch said the deadline for getting businesses committed was Friday afternoon.
This time, each participating business donated two-$50 gift cards. A grand prize winner will receive $50 gift cards from all the participating businesses, worth at least $4,500. Second and third place winners will split the remaining cards, worth at least $2,250 to each winner.
“I will split the cards into two groups. The second place winner will pick which group they want and the third place winner get the rest,” Lerch said.
Rebecca Cangiano of Collegeville won the first Shop Small to Win Big when one of her receipts was chosen April 27 from among the 1,017 receipts that were submitted.
The participating businesses won in that first round of the initiative as well — with sales from the receipts totaling $80,309.89. That total represents sales the businesses — which are either closed or operating differently than usual — might not have seen otherwise.
Lerch said at the end of the first initiative, which ended April 26, there was quite a bit of interest in having a second round. As a result, he said it was fairly easy to get businesses to sign on to participate. While some of the same businesses signed on again, this time there are quite a few new businesses.
“Some of them, people have a real connection to. We have some names we didn’t have last time. Many of them have a dedicated following, so I’m pretty excited about it,” he said.
There may be a surprise or two this time, Lerch added, choosing to keep the details to himself — for now.
Lerch said it’s hard to say what his expectations are for this round of Shop Small to Win Big.
“I was so blown away by last time. Even if we can do half as well it would be great. But given the success last time, I would hope to at least mirror it,” he said.
The purchase window runs from Monday, May 18 through Sunday, May 24. To be eligible, entrants must message a photo of their receipt to the Hello 422 Facebook page or email it to chris@ hello422.com. Purchases must be of at least $50.
A Facebook Live event will be held Monday, May 25 to select the winning receipts.
For more information about the initiative, visit https://www.facebook. com/Hello-422.