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News & Features
From the Idyllwild Town Crier weekly newspaper, 10.08.09 edition.
Merchants debut 3rd Thursdays
By Marshall Smith, Staff Reporter
The
Idyllwild Business Roundtable (IBRT), an informal group of local
storefront owners becoming known for its polite meetings, conviviality
and tangible accomplishments, continues to launch projects designed to
better the town’s economy.
Beginning Oct. 15, IBRT premieres “3rd Thursdays!” with participating
Idyllwild merchants aiming to entice local shoppers by staying open
until 8 p.m., offering special treats, giveaway gifts or entertainment,
and donating a portion of each 3rd Thursday’s sale to a local
nonprofit.
This month, the Idyllwild HELP Center is the nonprofit designated to
receive a portion of sale proceeds. Each merchant decides what
percentage of the day’s profits they’ll donate to the designated
nonprofit. Participating merchants will display 3rd Thursday posters in
their windows or stores. Nov. 19 and Dec. 17 are subsequent 3rd
Thursdays.
Organizers hope to appeal to residents’ sense of community by stressing
that dollars spent in town stay in town and have three times the
positive impact on a community as those spent at national chains. They
note that dollars spent locally also act to preserve a small
community’s identity, unique character and walkable town center against
the leavening onslaught of identical strip malls, box stores and
multinational chains.
Currently, 24 local merchants and restaurants are registered to
participate in 3rd Thursdays. Additional businesses can join and be
listed in ads and press releases by e-mailing their contact information
to info@mountainharvestmarket.com.
IBRT’s interstate billboard project is beginning to do what organizers
had hoped — direct motoring viewers to IBRT’s IDY4U.com Web site and
bring new visitors to the Hill. Installed mid-August, one on Interstate
10 near Calimesa and one on Interstate 215 eight-tenths of a mile south
of Ramona Expressway, the billboards are designed to promote Idyllwild
as a tourist destination.
Local merchants have long complained that residents of towns as near as
Hemet don’t know of Idyllwild’s existence, let alone its unique
attributes and attractions. An IDY4U Web site hit report for the period
Sept. 2 through Oct. 2 documents 573 Web visits from 75 Southern
California cities.
Leading with 180 inquiries is Perris, with close proximity to the I-215
billboard and Los Angeles with 33 inquiries. Following Los Angeles in
descending order of Web visits are San Jacinto, Menifee, La Jolla,
Moreno Valley, Sun City, Wildomar, Beaumont, Temecula and Hemet.
Registering single-digit hits are Cathedral City, San Francisco, San
Diego, Murrieta, Bellflower, Laguna Niguel, Riverside, North Hollywood,
San Bernardino and Loma Linda.
The I-10 billboard faces traffic outbound from Los Angeles. The I-215
billboard faces traffic northbound from San Diego. Doug Yagaloff, one
of IBRT’s spokespersons, said a more complete and telling tabulation of
Web hits would be conducted at the end of November. IDY4U’s site also
captures how many page views, unique page views, and time spent on the
site each advertising business receives.
Yagaloff noted a new component on the IDY4U.com site — an opportunity
to register online as a subscriber and receive an e-newsletter
containing upcoming Idyllwild events, current weather and coupons from
participating merchants.
Yagaloff said IBRT also is looking into the possibility of additional
billboard sites at various strategic locations, including one on
Highway 111 in the Coachella Valley, targeting the desert communities.
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