With discounts and holiday fun, stores and shopping centers compete for customers who have limited time and money during the holidays.
Local businesses are an integral part of the festivities in many towns, such as Hinsdale, Western Springs and La Grange, both to attract customers and to support the community.
Hinsdale’s Christmas Walk Dec. 5 was “hugely attended,” reported Jan Anderson, president of the Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce.
Dozens of businesses and organizations sponsored the event, which included a miniature train, music, costumed characters and Santa Claus.
“It’s a holiday event, but it’s also a marketing effort,” Anderson said. Businesses stay open late that night and offer free refreshments and token gifts.
For the Christmas Walk, Hinsdale Furriers offered 30 percent off new furs and shearlings, plus a free insurance appraisal, garment bag, silk scarf, cleaning and storage for one year. The promotion was successful enough for the shop extended it an extra day.
This year, sponsors had the opportunity to participate in a coupon book produced by the chamber and distributed in the downtown and in a local newspaper.
“It’s for more direct sales,” Anderson said.
The La Grange Business Association introduced a new promotion, called Unwrap La Grange, in November. The promotion promises a $30 gift certificate to the first 100 shoppers who turn in receipts from local stores totaling at least $300.
Other shoppers who later spend that much in La Grange will be entered into a drawing for a certificate.
Western Springs added a holiday passport to its annual Festival of Trees this year. The two-day festival includes live entertainment and dozens of small Christmas trees decorated by local groups around the historic water tower.
If people obtained stamps from five businesses on their “passport,” they could enter any one of nine raffles for prizes that included a $600 Bose home theater speaker system to an American Girl diner set.
The idea came from a similar program in Downers Grove, said Jean Dukes, coordinator of the Festival of Trees, which is sponsored by the Western Springs Business Association.
Each business or organization could set its own requirement for getting a stamp. Evolve Health to Wellness, a chiropractic, acupuncture and applied Kinesiology practice in Western Springs, asked people to answer a question, such as what is a condition for which someone might go to a chiropractor, in order to get a stamp.
Mecenat Bistro asked the person to find a cork wreath somewhere in the restaurant
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Beautiful Beginnings baby clothes and bb’s Baby Donuts gave a stamp with any purchase. Although a steady flow of people came in Saturday afternoon to buy some of the miniature doughnuts made right before their eyes at bb’s, only about five people had asked for a passport stamp over the past two days, said co-owner Debbie Feiler.
Dukes reported 200 people turned in completed passports for the raffles. One passport may represent an entire family who came to the festival, Dukes said. The purpose was to make shoppers aware of stores and businesses that they might otherwise overlook.
“Once they went inside for the stamp, they learned more about the business, when otherwise, you wouldn’t necessarily take the time to do that,” Dukes said.
Shopping centers
Oakbrook Center, too, is combining entertainment with shopping to lure customers.
Both an old-fashioned outdoor Christkindlmarket, with 18 vendors, and a Santa visit that includes animation and a virtual sleigh ride, have been added to the shopping center.
Oakbrook Center also is trying to eliminate two common complaints about shopping at a mall: finding a convenient parking space and lugging around numerous shopping bags. The center is partnering with Uber and offering free rides to the mall from destinations within the area.
The catch is to get back home for free, you have to spend $150 at the mall that day.
Riders must first activate an account on the payment screen of the Uber app (www.uber.com) and enter the promo code OAKBROOK under the promotions tab. The complimentary ride is for a value up to $60.
At Burr Ridge Village Center, effort to draw customers included a $20 Burr Ridge Village Center gift card with same-day purchases of $200 or more. The promotion was in addition to the center again hosting the village’s tree-lighting ceremony. Additionally, Barbara’s Bookstore offers visits with Santa from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Dec. 13, with parents able to take their own photos at no charge.