XploreMB rewards local shopping with Village Gold

In 2018, the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce created the Restaurant Trail to encourage people to get outside of their norms and eat at as many Mountain Brook restaurants as possible — the goal was all of them — within the year.

Molly Wallace, project manager for the chamber, said they had more people than they expected complete the entire trail, and there were even some finishers who weren’t Mountain Brook residents. Overall, it was a success.

To keep the momentum going, Mayor Stewart Welch and the chamber have initiated XploreMB for 2019. It’s similar to the Restaurant Trail but includes all Mountain Brook businesses, not just eateries. 

Welch, who Chamber Executive Director Suzan Doidge credited with the idea, said the goal is to get people into locally owned establishments to both express appreciation for their place in Mountain Brook and to encourage local spending.

Unlike the Restaurant Trail, which had one big prize drawing at the end of it, XploreMB will have a drawing each week until the end of the year. To enter, participants take a selfie with an employee and post it under the hashtag #XploreMB on Instagram or Facebook, Welch said. 

If selected, the person who posted the picture will win $25 in Village Gold, and the employee who is in it has a chance to win $10 in Village Gold. Welch said this is one of his favorite aspects, because it’s a way to thank the employee and business for their work in the city.

“I’ve started doing it, and what I’ve found is the employees love this,” he said. “All the employees, of all the places I’ve been, … they’ve all liked it.”

The chamber also has asked local businesses to participate and match gifts, and so far, more than 50 businesses have agreed. Doidge said many of the matching gifts will be gift cards from retailers, but more nontraditional businesses, like a dentist’s office or a real estate agent, have offered up items like whitening strips and coffee table books.

“Nontraditional businesses are getting very creative with their gifts,” Wallace said. 

“It’s not just your typical restaurant or merchants,” Doidge said.

Doidge and Wallace also said they may do multiple drawings at special events, like Citizen Appreciation Day. Winners will be announced on social media, through the chamber’s e-newsletter and the mayor’s Circle of 100 email.

“We really want to highlight the winner, but we also want to highlight the business that’s matching up,” Welch said. “… It’s just a concept and we hope that it will catch on.”

So far, all agreed that people have been excited about XploreMB and Doidge said, “The response has been greater than what I anticipated.” 

This program also goes back to the chamber’s main mission: to encourage shopping local. Welch said with the increasing popularity of Amazon, Walmart and other big chain stores, it puts more pressure on local stores.

“All these people live here,” he said, and raise families here. “If you could imagine that you didn’t have them … and everything was kind of an online world, everything would be so boring.”

“It’s the fabric of our community for sure,” Doidge said. 

Doidge said XploreMB is “very intentional,” and comes at a good time. Spring time is normally busy, she said, but shoppers tend to drop off over the summer as people go on vacation or stay in summer homes. It also serves as a way to recognize the businesses and their employees for being in Mountain Brook and to recommend them to other shoppers in the area.

“People are really excited about this,” Doidge said. 

“I hope that we will see this go beyond Mountain Brook even,” Wallace said.

Learn more at mtnbrookchamber.org.