Shop Local In Woodbridge This Holiday Season, And Get Money Back

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — This year, for the first time ever, the Downtown Woodbridge Main Street Special Improvement District is offering a special incentive to shop local for the holiday season: Purchase a gift card to Woodbridge small businesses and get $10 added for $50 gift cards, and $20 added for $100 gift cards.

Here's how it works:

Purchase the electronic gift cards at downtownwoodbridge.com and view a list of participating businesses that accept the gift cards, all small businesses based in Woodbridge.

This will be a virtual gift card that is emailed to you, but you can also print it out and give it to friends and family as a stocking stuffer. If you put $50 on the gift card, you get $10 added, and if you put $100 on, you can get $20 added. You can also start as low as $10 on the card.

You can spend the gift card at the following Woodbridge Township small businesses: Absolute Eyewear, Carpet Maven, Chicken Galore, Cirese C. Skin Therapy, D'aje Salon, El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant, Extremz Bike Shop, Floral Expressions, Goddess Boutique, Just Subs, Mane Street Cigars, Physical Features Salon & Spa, Stone Mountain Printing, The Babe Cave, Vine Beauty Supply, Vito Mazza Salon & Spa, Waka-Tay, Want a Smoothie, Woodbridge Metro Chamber of Commerce and Xclusive Barber Shop.

The extra cash bonus expires Feb. 28.

The gift cards are called "Downtown Dollars" and the whole idea is to encourage residents to patronize Woodbridge small businesses. This is the first year the Downtown Woodbridge Main Street Special Improvement District has offered something like this.

“As a downtown Woodbridge business owner myself, I know personally how an e-gift card program like this will help local businesses attract new customers and create a sense of community and partnership between storefronts," said Vito Mazza, the owner of Vito Mazza Salon & Spa. Mazza is also president of Downtown Woodbridge’s Special Improvement District.

"Our hope is that this initiative gives an extra boost for the businesses during the holidays and also gives shoppers another option to purchase a perfect gift or stocking stuffer on a local level," Mazza added.

The Woodbridge Special Improvement District, or SID, is a partnership between local businesses in town and local town government. The SID helped raise the money to purchase and construct the two new merchant parking lots in downtown Woodbridge. The SID also strongly supports the development of new apartment complexes in Woodbridge, such as Avenue & Green luxury apartment complex by the train station that just started renting this fall. A UPS store will open at Avenue & Green this spring, plus Eric LeGrand's coffee shop.

"Our new objective is to improve the overall appeal of the downtown so that when new residents begin to move into the area, they are greeted with restaurants, small shops and an attractive downtown that they are excited to spend time in," said the SID in a statement. "We are also looking to attract visitors from all over Woodbridge and outside of the municipality."

Subscribe to Patch for local Woodbridge and state news: Subscribe to Patch

Contact this Patch reporter: Carly.baldwin@patch.com