Customer Appreciation Takes Over Hinsdale

If you’ve been eying an item from a Hinsdale store, it’s time to make a move.

Across Hinsdale Friday and Saturday, 62 businesses will offer shoppers sales, raffles, and gift giveaways as a part of the first-ever Customer Appreciation Celebration. The event was developed by the ’s Economic Development Commission (EDC) and its timing is far from random.

“This is traditionally not one of the busiest shopping periods,” said Tim Scott, the village’s community development strategist. “It’s an opportunity for us to celebrate the unofficial arrival of spring.

“We’d like to think that we’ll get some new customers in town and hopefully some long-time shoppers who haven’t been out with the [troubled] economy.”

Participating retailers include 60 of the independent shops of the downtown, Grant Square, and Gateway Square business districts as well as two national chain retailers—the on Ogden Avenue and  located downtown.

Each participating retailer has crafted its own promotion. Scott said the decentralized approach was key to bringing in the record-number of participants for an EDC event.

“If we had far fewer participating, it would be far less attractive,” Scott said. “We really wanted to impress upon them that we … [were going to] try to make it work for all of them.”

Said Jan Anderson, the executive director of the Hinsdale Chamber of Commerce, “You won’t be going to the same thing twice.”

Luis Alvarez of , 37 S. Washington St., serves on the EDC and canvassed the downtown district to gain support for Customer Appreciation. He said that even though retailers will have varying offers, a collective event is “exponentially” more beneficial than individual stores holding individual sales. 

“When one store does great, that’s fine; that’s great,” Alvarez said. “But if the whole downtown area is doing well, then you will get customers from other stores that happen to be visiting.”

According to Alvarez, Razny will have a drawing on Saturday from which one customer will win a piece of jewelry by Italian designer Nanis, who will be in the store. There will also be discounts on certain store merchandise.

When asked if Customer Appreciation will become a tradition, the EDC's Scott replied, “Maybe.”

He said it would be nice to add an annual event at a time of year before kids are out of school and before families take vacations.

“We’re going to learn from this and find out where we can make it better and then consider find out whether or not we’ll have it next year,” Scott said.

It’s hard to judge store-by-store data, he said, so this year’s event will be evaluated on anecdotal feedback from participants.

The EDC made a big publicity push for the event. Scott said the commission put out email blasts and an ad in . To recruit businesses, Scott and Alvarez were among those who went door-to-door to convince those retailers on the fence.