Greensburg, In. — Following a one-year hiatus, the Greensburg/Decatur County Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce the return of its popular Shopping Scramble event in November. The event has been changed from a one day shopping experience, to a week-long event that has shoppers and local retailers in mind as everyone begins thinking about the Holiday shopping season.
The 2018 Annual Shopping Scramble will begin on Monday, Nov. 19 with a luncheon at Greensburg City Hall Gymnasium and will conclude with a closing event at Aspen Place Health Campus on Monday, Nov. 26. The week will coincide with Small Business Saturday, a nationwide promotion to encourage supporting local businesses, specifically on Saturday, Nov. 24.
The Greensburg/Decatur County Chamber of Commerce will be assisted in this event by the fine folks of MainStreet Greensburg. Both organizations have been designated as Champions of the American Express Small Business Saturday promotion. Area residents will soon see banners, posters and other marketing efforts regarding Shop Small Saturday from these two organizations.
The Shopping Scramble will actually begin what the Chamber of Commerce calls “Shop Till You Drop” week in Greensburg and Decatur County and will start on Monday, Nov. 19, with a kick-off luncheon at Greensburg City Hall. At this luncheon, Shopping Scramble participants will receive a meal, their scorecard, goody bags and instructions on how the week will unfold. The event will conclude with light snacks and desserts on Monday, Nov. 26, at Aspen Place Health Campus in Greensburg. This will be more of a late afternoon/early evening event.
There will be prizes and the Greensburg/Decatur County Chamber of Commerce will make a contribution to another non-profit organization from the Greensburg/Decatur County area as a result of these efforts.
The price to be involved in this event for shoppers is only $20 and that will include the kick-off luncheon, a voucher for a meal at a Chamber of Commerce member restaurant and the closing event at Aspen Place Health Campus.
“Our past Shopping Scramble forced shoppers to rush through participating merchant stores and while our tracking of the spending has shown an average of $6,000 boost to the local economy in just six hours, we believe that it just made for a hectic day for many,” Jeff Emsweller, Executive Director of the Greensburg/Decatur County Chamber of Commerce said. “This revamped event can still have team participation as we have in the past, but it gives our shoppers a more relaxed event. They can actually spend more time in stores and not feel so rushed to just get in and out. Our retail merchants will benefit by not feeling like people are just coming in to sign up for an opportunity to win a free gift. This format makes it possible for retailers to provide a more customer friendly service to those shopping by being able to answer questions or helping in the shopping experience.”
Shoppers participating in the event will be given an identifying name tag which will tell merchants they are participating in the event. This tag should be worn throughout the week, when the participant plans to shop and will allow the shoppers to sign up for the end event prizes from the participating merchants.
While it is not required to spend money at the local retail stores in order to participate, the Chamber asks shoppers to keep track of the stores they visit and write down how much, if any, money they spent at the stores. At the end of the event, the Chamber will ask shoppers to look at their scorecard for an opportunity to win additional prizes through “closest to the pin” type contests. Those scorecards are then collected by the Chamber so data can be used for future planning.
Those wishing to participate in this fun event, which gives back to the community in so many ways, may register online at the Greensburg/Decatur County Chamber of Commerce website at www.greensburgchamber.com and then by clicking on the program in the Upcoming Events scrolling section of the website. They may also register by calling 812-663-2832.
Submitted by the Greensburg Chamber of Commerce
