Nov. 21, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
Get discounts on your holiday shopping and reward yourself at the same time with the Small Business Saturday Retail Crawl in Astoria this weekend.
Seventeen local businesses around Astoria are hosting a retail crawl this weekend, encouraging people to stop by and take advantage of discounts, while also earning the chance to win a prize.
To participate in the crawl, customers can print out or pick up a “passport” at any of the participating stores, and get it stamped with every purchase this Saturday. Any passport with eight stamps or more will get the customer a free tote bag, as well as enter them in to a raffle for a gift basket with goods from all 17 stores.
“I think it’s important because I’m an Astoria resident, all my staff lives in Astoria, and when you support small businesses you’re supporting the community,” said Nicole Panettieri, owner of the Brass Owl and organizer of the crawl for the second year in a row. “The money you spend stays in the community, and since we all live here, it stays circulating within the neighborhood and helps build the community financially and in community spirit.”
Panettieri said that during her first year of business in 2014, she had a customer come in on Small Business Saturday wearing pins from all of the local stores she had shopped at that day. “It was just so touching that she was so proud to shop at Astoria retail stores,” she said.
The following year, she organized the Retail Crawl as a way to give back to loyal customers.
Last year the event was organized fairly quickly and at the last minute, Panettieri said, and she received about 50 completed passports by the end of the day. This year she hopes to raise the stakes, and said she is aiming for 200 completed passports.
The crawl runs all day on Saturday, and any completed passports must be dropped off to the Brass Owl at 36-19 Ditmars Blvd before December 2.
For more information and to print out a passport visit https://www.facebook.com/events/537729903090768/.
Participating stores are each offering their own discounts in addition to the passport promotion. Those stores include:
- Astoria Bookshop 31-29 31st 718-278-2665
- Belief 24-01 29th 917-832-6491
- The Brass Owl 36-19 Ditmars Blvd. 347-848-0905
- Broadway Silk 35-11 Broadway 718-728-2519
- Chateau Le Woof 30-02 14th 718-626-9663
- The Geekery 42-11 Broadway 718-606-2853
- HiFI Records 23-19 Steinway St. 718-606-1474
- Inside Astoria 28-07 Ditmars Blvd. 718-956-4000
- Jumping Bulldog 26-30 23rd 718-606-0147
- Lavender Label 29-03 23rd 774-255-3915
- Lockwood 32-15 33rd 718-626-6030
- Lockwood Style 33-02 Broadway 718-626-3040
- Loveday 31 33-06 31st Ave 718-728-4057
- Petals & Roots 31-27 31st. St. 718-267-1700
- QED 27-16 23rd 347-451-3873
- The Stonework 37-06 Ditmars Blvd. 718-606-0828
- Toca Store 14-05 31st 718-204-8622
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One Comment
Who wud own a bookshop in Astoria…wth. It would never make business, this isn’t Manhattan.