Downtown gift card program returns

A gift card program benefiting downtown Dayton businesses that sold out within about six hours is returning for a second round.

The Downtown Dayton Partnership’s popular Gift Card Bonus Buy program relaunches at noon today, and consumers again will be able to buy $25 gift cards to more than 60 downtown businesses and receive a special “surprise” $15 gift card.

As in the first round, the partnership expects to have about 1,000 bonus cards — though it could have more.

The first round last week provided local businesses with about $40,000 in sales in six hour. Many shops and establishments were forced to close or scale back operations significantly during the COVID-19 lockdown, said Sandy Gudorf, president of the Downtown Dayton Partnership.

“This gave our community an opportunity to support our local businesses and thank our local businesses,” Gudorf said.

The second round of the bonus program was made possible by donations from community supporters, most notably with a lead gift from Charles Simms Development, the leading homebuilder in downtown. Other donations came from the Rubi Girls and community members.

The gift card program is supposed to help boost sales at local businesses that have seen sales and foot traffic plummet because of the pandemic.

Gift cards can be purchased at www.DowntownDayton.org/BonusBuy while supplies last. Once bonus cards sell out, the partnership will disable sales on the website.

The dozens of participating businesses include restaurants, coffee shops, salons, retailers, bars and arts and entertainment venues.

The surprise bonus gift cards are aimed at getting consumers to visit and check out businesses and places they may not have ever patronized before, Gudorf said.

The surprise gift cards will be selected randomly from the list of participating businesses, Gudorf said.

“It’s an opportunity to go out and explore downtown,” she said.

Contact this reporter at 937-225-0749 or email Cornelius.Frolik@coxinc.com.