Greatest gifts ‘right under their noses’

Home

Around Kissimmee

Other Sun Publications

FREE DELIVERY!
Get Free Delivery! Request your Osceola News Gazette Today.

Login Form

2013 Osceola Health

2013 Sexual Predator Sexual Offender List sexualpredatorcover13

Windows on the Classroom March 2013

School Calendar
2012-2013

View our other Special Sections

Greatest gifts ‘right under their noses’

Around Osceola

Wednesday, 15 December 2010 00:00

By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer
With less than two weeks left to finish Christmas shopping, retailers are pulling all the stops to entice shoppers to purchase gifts at their stores. However, retailers, specialty shopkeepers and restaurant owners in St. Cloud are hoping residents will stop downtown to pick up presents this year.
Enter the Bring the Holiday Season Home, Shop St. Cloud campaign, launched by Redeye Media with an idea by Mayor Rebecca Borders with the intent of using digital advertising to entice shoppers to the downtown district.
“We’re trying to get folks to take a look at St. Cloud, especially downtown, for their holiday shopping,” Jana Wood, of Redeye Media, said.
The campaign uses advertisements on big screen televisions in several locations downtown. The ads run with trivia, which Borders said makes the ads “kind of subliminal.”
“It’s a very interesting way of advertising. You can’t help but see it,” she said. “Before you leave, you’ve seen it 15 to 20 times.”
When Borders became a member of the St. Cloud Greater Osceola Chamber of Commerce, she received a month’s worth of advertising from Redeye. She used a week of it to thank her supporters for voting her into office but approached Wood about donating the remaining time to promote local businesses.
“With the holidays coming, people should realize we have a lot of inexpensive shops,” Borders said. “Our businesses don’t get enough exposure.”
Dennis Vebert, who has owned Banks “A” Lot Emporium, which has sold collectables downtown for 15 years, agrees. He said he normally does not advertise but because the digital media system is “unique” he decided to go for it.
“The small businesses in the downtown area have basically the same items as the big store. Prices are about the same,” Vebert said.
Richard Estill moved his photography studio downtown four months ago from his home and said residents can take advantage of similar services the mall and bigger stores offer with a shorter drive time and better service.
“There’s an obvious quality difference,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out how to compete when you have (stores) with (photography) packages for $6.99. You’ve got to have more features.”
Estill said he has received a larger volume of calls since he began participating in the ad campaign, which he said hopes translates into business next year with high school senior portraits and other events.
Both Vebert and Estill said they hope the new City Council will continue to have and implement ideas to promote local business and encourage residents to shop in St. Cloud.
“I’m hoping we’ll see more positive steps toward hometown improvements rather than attracting big box retailers,” Estill said.
“Everybody thinks they can’t find unique items unless they go to the mall,” Vebert said. “If they’d just open their eyes, it’s right under their noses.”