Campaign pushes area shopping Sunday to support merchants

The Yuma Sun and Bajo El Sol are once again hosting their August “$20 on the 20th” campaign, using ads to entice locals to spend $20 at their favorite locally-owned businesses, on Sunday or whatever other day works.

“That’s why we’re calling it ‘the weekend of,’ and a lot of the businesses are actually doing it for the entire week,” said Yuma Sun National Sales and Events Manager Alex Espinoza. Today’s paper includes a wraparound page on the A section which highlights some of the local businesses, with smaller advertisements inside from other Yuma-area firms. Many include coupons for 20 percent off, 2 for $20 or some other spin on the number of the day.

The Yuma Sun has been offering discounted ads to local business owners to run on or

before Aug. 20 since 2009, Espinoza said. “We’ve done this in the past, and our local businesses love it. They love having the community come out and show their support,” she said.

Of course, the month of August is the other crucial part of the equation, with an eye toward boosting local business during the hottest, and hardest, time of the year.

“If you’re a little ma-andpa shop and sometimes you don’t have a lot of money in the summertime, a nice ad in the paper helps to stimulate getting some money moved around. Twenty dollars doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but for a small business every $20 that walks through the door is a plus,” Advertising Manager Tim Chaulk said.

Hairdressers, restaurants and other small businesses are regulars for the $20 on the 20th campaign, but Chaulk said in this case, the size doesn’t matter.

“The fun part is it’s basically open to everybody. You don’t have to be a little business, lots of big businesses advertise as well, like car dealers have bought them. So it’s just opened up for a lot of people to use as an opportunity.”

It’s also a chance for summer-weary consumers to step out of their air-conditioned homes, however briefly, for a good cause.

“The best part is we get an excuse for a little extra shopping,” Espinoza said. “We’re out here to support the community and we’re going to go shop, And we’re going to go local.”

The $20 for the 20th campaign is strongly supported by the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce, executive director John Courtis said, adding that shopping in Yuma County, rather than online, boosts business owners, cities, nonprofits and everything else within it.

“These are people you go to church with, you may play softball with, you might be neighbors with — give them a shot, for crying out loud,” he said. “Because at the end of the day, when you’re going to have a fundraiser, you’re going to go to these same people and say, ‘Will you support my fun run?”

The answer could be, “Well, you buy your stuff online, so I don’t have any money to support your cause,” Courtis said.

Somerton Chamber of Commerce President Angela Gallardo endorses it as well. “We don’t have the big brands, so all we have is a very good product. That will give the consumer a chance to know what we’re selling even though we don’t have the brands,” she said.