Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership announces revamped Downtown Dollars program
Kalamazoo, Mich. – Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership is excited to launch a revamped, digital Downtown Dollars program designed to drive spending to local downtown Kalamazoo businesses. The program is scheduled to launch September 3, 2019.
“Downtown Dollars is about building a community and supporting downtown businesses,” Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership President Andrew Haan said. “For every $100 spent locally, $68 stays in the community. Keeping those dollars in downtown is vital to the success of local businesses and the entire downtown.”
Originally initiated in 1995, the Downtown Dollars program has consistently focused on promoting shopping local and supporting downtown businesses. Nearly 25 years later, Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership identified through community and business surveys, that the Downtown Dollars program needed to be updated to reflect the times.
While historically, Downtown Dollars have only been available in office, the revamped Downtown Dollars program will be digital – making shopping and gifting local easier for the general public and employers. Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership is using the Michigan-based Conpoto to make Downtown Dollars simpler for customers to purchase and easier for businesses to manage.
In conjunction with using a digital-first program, Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership will be engaging with major Kalamazoo-area employers to encourage using Downtown Dollars as employee rewards.
“Redirecting even a small percentage of local employee reward programs into Downtown Dollars would create a significant positive impact on the economy downtown” notes Andrew Haan, President, Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership. Funneling these dollars to a local currency program, instead of nationwide gift cards, is key component to the economic vitality of a downtown.
How does the program work?
First, customers purchase Downtown Dollars on the Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership website – they can send them directly to another person via email or they can input their own email to then print and gift a physical certificate as a gift. The recipient then shops at one of the several dozen participating downtown businesses.
Businesses can redeem certificates immediately through their personal portal at their location of business and are issued a reimbursement by the Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership twice monthly.
More information on the program can be found at https://downtownkalamazoo.org/dollars. The purchase portal, along with a full list of participating businesses, will be live on the website on Tuesday, September 3, 2019.
About Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership
Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership is a private, non-profit organization that works with both the public and private sectors in preserving and enhancing the economic health of Kalamazoo’s downtown area and, in turn, the Kalamazoo community. In conjunction with its affiliate organizations, it manages a full range of activities that include capital improvement projects, business development and recruitment programs, image marketing and event planning in order to establish Downtown Kalamazoo as an accessible, diverse, green, progressive and vibrant urban center. For more information, visit downtownkalamazoo.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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