Cash Mob at Village Toy Shop

Cash Mob Phenomenon to Hit Easton This Weekend
Mob seeks to support local businesses with a shopping day at the Village Toy Shop

Easton, Mass—If you’ve seen the movie “Friends with Benefits” or any of dozens of YouTube videos, you know that flash mobs bring dancers and artists to a location for a spontaneous-looking artistic presentation. Cash mobs, on the other hand, bring regular everyday people to a locally-owned business to support it and the local community and economy. It’s not a crowd of 250 rushing into a small store with cash in hand, like some scene from the floor of the stock market. It is just friends and neighbors stopping in a local store on a predetermined day or time to make a purchase.

Easton joins the Cash Mob bandwagon with a mob at the Village Toy Shop, 285 Washington Street (in the Easton Village Shoppes, Route 138 across from Hilliards) on Saturday, May 5. The shop is open 9 to 7. The store is filled with gifts for kids and families, carrying classic toys as well as the hot toy trends. Their mission is to promote healthy play and create lasting memories of “those afternoon trips to the local toy store.” 

The community is invited to come to the shop and spend $10 or $20, meet the owner and employees, and maybe even run into neighbors and friends at the local spot. “It’s all about community,” explains Easton-resident Josh Tolub. “We need to shop at our locally-owned businesses or they just won’t be here anymore. Stores like the Village Toy Shop give our town character, support local charities and events, and help to strengthen the ties that bind us a town and a community.” Cash mobbing provides that opportunity and impetus to shop at local stores.

Started last year in Cleveland, cash mobs have hit Stoughton and Taunton in recent weeks, as the phenomenon has spread around the country. “It’s fun to meet up with some friends and go visit a local store or restaurant as part of a Cash Mob,” notes Howard Shore of Stoughton, who participated in two of the recent local mobs. “It’s a way of making our communities more vital and vibrant. We all need to eat and shop anyway, so why not do some of it in local businesses?” Shore points to a note on the Cash Mob Easton Facebook group, which explains how money spent at a locally-owned business turns into dance lessons for the owner’s daughter and dinner at the local restaurant for the employees’ families.

According to the cashmob.com website, an international Cash Mob day is being planned for later this month, but in the meantime, a local cash mob here in Easton--at the Village Toy Shop this Saturday--will help to keep our community strong.