'Shop Yorkville' aims to beef up business

February 10, 2009
By ROWENA VERGARA

YORKVILLE -- In an effort to keep dollars within the community, one alderman is proposing a "Shop Yorkville" campaign that would boost business for local retailers large and small battling a tough economy. "It's just another marketing tool to increase business in Yorkville. We've invested a lot in some of these, and have given a lot of incentives to get some of them going," 3rd Ward Alderman Marty Munns said.

The campaign proposal has not come to City Council for discussion. But members of the city's economic development committee plan to work with city staff to establish a vision for the initiative and discuss it again March 3. Ideally, Munns would want the city to track all sales tax revenue from businesses in town over a year's period as part of the campaign. The "Shop Yorkville" initiative might entail a contest among businesses as well. He hopes the campaign will give local businesses an avenue to advertise special sale events for residents of certain areas of Yorkville through e-mail blasts, for example.

Additionally, those local businesses could also offer sales to shoppers who live in neighboring communities so that those shoppers can see what Yorkville has to offer. "We're competing against Plano, Oswego, Sandwich or whoever, when people spend their money," Munns said. "I'm all for these other towns, but the city of Yorkville is our business. If we could drag Plano residents to Super Target instead of their Wal-Mart, then it means we're more efficient at marketing our businesses," he said.

One possible marketing message discussed at last week's Economic Development Committee meeting was a Top 10 Reasons to Shop Yorkville initiative. A few of those reasons could include: shopping in town saves energy, it preserves the local character of Yorkville and saves shoppers the hassle of driving on other traffic-clogged roads throughout the Fox Valley, 2nd Ward Alderman Gary Golinski said. "It's just to let people know that every dollar spent in Yorkville provides services like police, maintenance, street lights and parks," he said.

Munns added he would want the campaign to be handled and watched over by the city, but involvement would also need to come from the Yorkville Chamber of Commerce and the Yorkville Economic Development Corporation. "I think it's worth trying. The least we can do is try and increase sales a little bit," Munns said.