Local Holiday Shoppe Crawl Supports Small Businesses

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — Several years ago, Jennifer Bade and Jennifer Gunter, co-owners of The Market Boutique and Events (formerly known as The Makers Market), organized a local shop crawl with other small businesses in Manatee County for Mother’s Day.

The idea was simple, Bade said. Shoppers would have their stamp card marked at each shop they visited throughout the week. Those who filled the card would be entered into a prize drawing. And each retailer would offer exclusive discounts and goodies to shoppers.

The event was a success, she said. “It went really well. (We) had a lot of participation.”

Recognizing the difficulties many businesses are facing this holiday season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she decided to revive the event this year.

The Local Holiday Shoppe Crawl, featuring nine businesses throughout the county, will kick off Black Friday and run for 10 days through Dec. 6.

“We’re all trying to keep our businesses alive. A lot of people are shopping online because it’s more convenient and some aren’t ready to go out in person to shop,” Bade said. “The pandemic has really hurt small businesses. So, we are all trying to find ways to bring people in and excite them into supporting locally owned businesses, because they’re really the lifeline of our community.”

Stamp cards can be picked up at each participating retailer. Each shop has also donated a prize for the drawing at the end of the week.

Participating shops include:

• The Market Boutique and Events (formerly The Makers Market), 6650 Cortez Road West, Bradenton
• Reinspired Boutique, 2801 Manatee Ave. West, Bradenton
• The Original Sand Dollar, 5302 Marina Drive, Holmes Beach
• The Bungalow of Bradenton, 2419 Manatee Ave. West, Bradenton
• The Cat’s Meow, 4307 26th Street West, Bradenton
• Once Upon a Room, 210 7th Street West, Palmetto
• The Lace Buckle Boutique, 1003 10th Ave. West, Palmetto
• American Traditions, 433 10th Ave. West, Palmetto
• The Blue Flamingo, 4229 26th Street West, Bradenton