[My friend Gayle Machetta from Henryetta, Oklahoma, sent me the story of how one local merchant has created a sales event that packs hundreds of people into their downtown twice a year. --Becky]
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| Burnett Furniture getting ready for the big sale. Photo by Gayle Machetta. |
The other merchants in the same block figured out awhile ago that this was a captive market for those few hours. The Men's store next door stays open (Bob's Clothiers) and does a tremendous business. The Flower/Gift shop and Jewelry store (Rheba's and Cave's) also stay open until about 8 and do a good trade. The Burnett Hardware Store and Burnett Gift Store in the next block participate in the sale and the hardware store also has manufacturer's representatives on hand to do special orders on lawn tractors, chippers, tillers. This year, there was even a church youth group that set up a Hamburger cookout to raise money for their Relay for Life team and they made several hundred dollars in a couple of hours on the light crowd.
It’s a real phenomenon. Reminds me of when our Main Street was bustling like that every weekend and during the holiday season.
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I grew up in Enid and we used to have Crazy Daze the last Saturday in July. The sales were great, sales people dressed up like it was Halloween, and there were hundreds of people shopping downtown and Sunset Plaza. In the 90s, Crazy Daze started to wane. No one dressed up and the sales weren't enticing. It's sad, really, that the merchants don't see that Crazy Daze was more than just a sale. It was the entire community coming together and enjoying the day, shopping, putting money back in the economy, and maybe sparking new loyalty for your store. I used to return to Enid just for Crazy Daze, but I haven't done that in a few years because it's just not the even it used to be. Kudos to Gayle and her team for making this work!
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