Chamber of Commerce launches ‘Live Local’ video series to boost local businesses

The small businesses of Mountain Brook “are the heart of our community” and “keep our community pumping,” said Tonya Jones, president of the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce, in a report to the Mountain Brook City Council this spring.

“That’s why we live here,” she said. “That’s why we shop here, dine here. We love our people, and we want to support them as much as we can.”

Those sentiments have special resonance as retailers and restaurants struggle to cope with the economic effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“If there was ever a time to support our businesses, that time is now,” Mountain Brook Mayor Stewart Welch said this summer.

The chamber recently began a new initiative — a series of short videos on Facebook called “Live Local” — to help draw customers back to retailers and restaurants in the city.

The videos are hosted by Gerald Garner, who was elected recently to a seat on the council and takes office Nov. 2.

The series kicked off Sept. 17 and will continue through 2021, chamber Executive Director Suzan Doidge said.

“We hope to visit every brick-and-mortar business in Mountain Brook,” Doidge said.

At press time, Garner had taped segments — typically about 3-5 minutes in length — at Village Sportswear, The Lingerie Shoppe, Lamb’s Ears LTD and Smith’s Variety.

“We have to support our local businesses and they are, ultimately, vital,” Garner said.

The video series is meant to be fun, he said.

For example, in visiting local retailers, Garner will have “conversations with them and have a good time and show what they do and what’s hot and what’s not.”

He will take a similar approach in videos about local eateries.

“We will hopefully go in there and get a little bit behind the scenes and maybe have them whip us up something fantastic, whether it’s cocktails or a meal,” he said.

The series is a way to show people “some of the great places we have locally,” Garner said.

Seth Adams, owner of Village Sportswear, said that he enjoyed filming his segment of “Live Local.”

“It was so refreshing to have someone walk in here who cares about our businesses and our villages,” Adams said.

The videos in the series ”seem to just hone right in on making a story and creating some excitement about what we do,” he said.

Despite the fact that she taped a segment about Mountain Brook shopping for MSNBC several years ago, Lamb’s Ears LTD co-owner Julie Gilmore Howell said she’s never been comfortable on camera. However, Garner made it easier, she said.

“I will do whatever I can to promote shopping local,” Howell said.

Howell said it’s important to remind Mountain Brook residents how much local businesses need their support right now.

“The community will lose their favorite stores to the COVID-19 economic casualty if they don’t come out and shop,” she said.

Brenda Meadows of The Lingerie Shoppe, which has been in business for almost 75 years, filmed her “Live Local” segment in early October.

She also stresses how important it is for area residents to support their local shops during the pandemic, especially given the growth in online shopping.

“I do think our community in their hearts wants to support us and don’t want anything to happen to any of us for when they really need us, but I do feel like we can’t say too much about how much they really do need to support us to keep things open,” she said.

To watch the videos go to Facebook @mtnbrookchamber, facebook.com/gerald.garner.73 or the What’s Happening in Mountain Brook Facebook page.

MERCHANT RELIEF FUND

In addition to shopping local, Mountain Brook residents and others can also support businesses in the city by donating to the Mountain Brook Merchant Relief Fund.

The fund — created by the chamber this spring as part of a new nonprofit entity — provides financial help to some of the city’s most vulnerable locally owned brick-and-mortar businesses, including retail stores and restaurants.

Organizers are asking each household in the city to donate $100 to the campaign, and 100% of the money raised will go to local merchants.

Businesses do not have to be chamber members in order to apply for help from the fund, Doidge said. The fund is meant to help businesses inside the city limits.

Another part of the relief fund is the Mayor’s Challenge, created by Welch. “The first 40 people who donate $1,000, we will have the Welch Foundation match that, up to $40,000,” he said.

To donate, go to emb.swell.gives.

CHAMBER HOLIDAY EVENTS

As always, the chamber is working with merchants in the city’s three villages to help promote a successful holiday shopping season.

The annual Holiday Open House in Mountain Brook Village will be Thursday, Dec. 3, from 5-7 p.m. The theme of the event this year will be “Jingle and Mingle,” said Evans Johnson, the chamber’s project manager.

English Village will welcome the holidays this year with an event called “Shop Sip and Stroll,” on Friday, Dec. 4, from 5-7 p.m.

“The ‘Shop Sip and Stroll’ event will be held at the beginning of each month to promote people to get outside and shop,” Johnson said.

Crestline Open House held its holiday open house Nov. 12.

For more information, call the chamber at 205-871-3779 or go to mtnbrookchamber.org.

A TRADITION CONTINUES

Bromberg’s in Mountain Brook Village will do its part to bring holiday cheer to the city with its own annual tradition — the lighting of a large Christmas tree in front of the store right after Thanksgiving.

The lighting of the tree — this year it’s a Fraser fir — will take place Friday, Nov. 26, said Ricky Bromberg, the store president.

The venerable jewelry store has erected an impressive Christmas tree, typically about 25-30 feet tall, each year since 2006, and viewing the tree has become a Mountain Brook holiday custom.

Not only that, but people like the tree to have virtually the same appearance from year to year, Bromberg said.

“I’m wired that way, too,” he said recently. “Once you find something that works, why would you fix it?”

The tree “looks the exact same every year, and we definitely have a light formula for that,” Bromberg said.

“I personally like the look of an incandescent bulb better than an LED bulb because it gives it a warmer look,” he said.

Typically the only additional decoration on the tree is a star on top.

There’s no special ceremony at the tree lighting, Bromberg said.

“When night time comes, we’ll light the tree,” he told Village Living in 2017. “It’s pretty low key.”

It has been gratifying to see the community’s response to the tree, Bromberg said.

“I think it’s anticipated every year now,” he said. “People will start saying, ‘When is the tree going to be up?’

“Of all the things we do — we do lots of events and work with charities through the year — we get more of a positive reaction from the community for this than anything else,” Bromberg said.