SMS News – Page 15 – Salem Main Streets

Snow Day Tuesday – Shop & Dine Downtown Salem

New Businesses, Salem Dining, Salem Event, SMS News No Responses »

Feb 092015

We are all in this together. Salem merchants and Salem residents/visitors/shoppers. Snow kept falling and blowing on Monday. Most of us were home-bound. Tuesday the MBTA will not be operating. The Governor has declared a State of Emergency so you should not drive unless it is vital. What to do? Stay home? No! Support our local Downtown Merchants who have been taking financial hit after hit with these snow storms.

There is a Facebook page urging just that: “The recent weather hurts our beloved local businesses. If you can walk downtown tomorrow (or drive depending on what happens with the parking situation) then spend some money to keep Salem in business! ”

Check out the site. Business are trickling in with whether they will be open or closed on Tuesday.

You can also post questions for your favorite eatery or regular store.

We think it is a great idea. The shopping community working together to support the businesses of Salem.

Call your favorite spot before heading out, as some may indeed be open but with abbreviated hours. Boot up. Bundle up. And we’ll see you out there for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or just gift shopping (Saturday is Valentine’s Day!).

(Erin Cyr event photo)

Great Holidays Do Really Begin Here in Salem

Contests, New Businesses, Salem Dining, Salem Event, Salem Festivals, Salem Shopping, SMS News No Responses »

Dec 102014

Can you remember a simpler time when holiday shopping was a simple stroll through friendly hometown stores and not a race through impersonal, giant, crowded malls? We do. And we are bringing that back.

Salem Main Streets is introducing a Holiday Stroll on Saturday, Dec. 13th to encourage residents to shop local and enjoy their downtown during the holiday season. Over 40 downtown retailers have committed to staying open until 8 pm on the 13th, and most will be offering special holiday discounts, promotions, and yummy refreshments all day.

How’s that for customer appreciation and “small town” ambiance.

A full list of participating retailers is available for your use.

In keeping with our goal of this being a total community effort, Boy Scout Troop 83 will be running a gift-wrapping station on Derby Square throughout the day, and will be joined by Troop 24, which will be selling wreaths in part to benefit the restoration of the Arch on Salem Common.

And while we are promoting all things Salem for Dec. 13th, don’t miss the Pickering Wharf businesses’ Winter Walk of the Wharf, including a stroll with Santa from 1-4 pm.

But that’s not the only event we have to make your trip worth your time. To add that extra bit of spice to our holiday gift to shoppers, Main Streets is once again conducting the Salem Holiday Window Contest, which runs now thru Dec. 13th.

Over 40 downtown businesses will be participating in the annual Holiday Window Contest, and this year the public can vote on their favorites at a participating business, or online at www.salemmainstreets.org/windows. These retailers go all out to do up their windows to entertain you, and if past entries are any indications (and they are!), we have many, many creative minds— and a couple of far out ones, as you would expect from Salem, MA. A full map of participating windows can be found here. Voting ends on Dec. 13th.

And one more thing. Creative Salem is giving us an extra promotional boost (…thank you, John…) with a related photo contest. For your chance to win a Creative Salem prize pack (valued at $150) take a picture while you are strolling through town or looking at store windows. Share it on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Vine); use the hashtag #salemwindows when posting! Winner will be chosen on the 14th.

Shop, vote, take pictures, find bargains, chat with friendly sales people. All courtesy of your downtown merchants of Salem, MA.

For additional info, contact Kylie Sullivan, Salem Main Streets Manager, at 978-744-0004 or kylie@salemmainstreets.org.

Warming Up to Downtown Shopping

New Businesses, Salem Event, Salem Farmers Market, Salem Shopping, SMS News No Responses »

Nov 222014

What do the over 100 restaurants, gift shops, other stores and attractions in Salem Ma have in common right now? Besides good bargains and eclectic choices, they have heat! Temperatures today (Saturday) are not expected to rise beyond the upper 30s. So you can sit at home, or go to a cold impersonal mall — or make Salem a one-stop warm & toasty shopping/dining daytrip destination. (This also applies to Sunday, or for that matter any day you would like to visit.)

But don’t take our word for it. Friday’s Salem Gazette had an article and an interview related to downtown shopping.

In the first of two front page stories, the emphasis was on the lengths North Shore communities (including Salem) go during the holiday season to invite and involve the community in local shopping over malls and big-box stores.

Ethan Hartley wrote “…local businesses in Massachusetts can offer something that you will be hard pressed to find under the bleak, florescent lights of a conglomerate store or a shopping mall — old-fashioned holiday cheer and excitement with an emphasis on building a strong community.”

Community is a key word. Salem Main Streets endeavors to work with our downtown merchants to design and promote events which increase business traffic and cement customer support/loyalty. The second article, an interview by Gregg Phipps with our manager Kylie Sullivan points to one of those projects, the Salem Winter Market.

Is the Winter Market successful in bringing people downtown to shop and do you think more and more people are turning away from mall shopping?

“That’s certainly the hope. There are so many great shops in downtown Salem, and we try really hard to ensure that our vendor offerings at the Winter Market complement rather than compete with the surrounding businesses.”

Kylie went on to explain that as much as the Market brings vendors to downtown Salem, it also creates a community gathering space in downtown Salem where residents and visitors from neighboring towns stop to chat with the vendors, other shoppers and even with merchants in surrounding stores.

Shopping need not be impersonal. It can be fun. The Winter Market will be closed this week in light of Thanksgiving but will be open again on Dec. 4, 11 and 18. Our stores, restaurants and attractions are open now. And the warmth you feel when you go inside comes from the people, as well as the heating vents.

So, Anything Going On This Week in Salem Ma?

Haunted Happenings, Salem Event, Salem Festivals, SMS News No Responses »

Oct 012014

Step right up, though this may not be the “greatest show on Earth,” Salem Ma does try its best to give residents, North Shore neighbors and visitors the most for their time & money spent here during the month of October. Just this week we are opening our Info Booth to be staffed with ambassadors of goodwill to assist fun-seekers and officially kicking off festivities with the Chamber of Commerce 19th Annual Haunted Happenings Grand Parade, as well as once again launching the Mayor’s Night Out and Trick or Treat with the Mayor events.

Practically speaking there are more activities scheduled for the first three days of October than we have room for in this blog. We suggest you look at the calendar information supplied by at least these three great community websites. Mix and match the information.

Specifically we would like to point out that:

The 19th Annual Haunted Happenings Grand Parade, presented by the Salem Chamber of Commerce steps off Thursday, Oct. 2nd at 6:30pm. This year’s parade theme is “Fantasy.” Children from grade school through high school and perhaps a big kid or two from college will march through our streets in costume as a tip of the hat to all the activities to follow this month. The spotlight, though, is where it should be, on the young people who keep Halloween alive with their imagination.

The Mayor’s Night Out is Oct. 3rd and that Friday Mayor Kimberly Driscoll, in partnership with Salem’s attractions and museums, encourages Salem residents to leave their homes to sample attractions, museums and even parking (at East India Mall garage after 4 pm) free of charge! Just bring your Salem ID and be on the look-out from 3 – 10 pm for “Mayor’s Night Out” signs at participating businesses.

Trick-or-Treating with Mayor Kim Driscoll at the East India Fountain takes place from 5:30 – 6:30 pm. Bring the kids, join the Mayor as the procession will Trick-or-Treat along the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall, The Museum Place Mall Shops, and beyond. Trick-or-Treat Bags provided. Costumes encouraged. And of course, it is another free of charge event.

Salem’s Downtown District is prepared to show you a good time this month, this 5th season of our calendar year. We welcome “kids of all ages,” to explore and be entertained.

It Waits… For You… The Info Booth

Haunted Happenings, Salem Event, Salem Festivals, SMS News, Volunteer Opportunities No Responses »

Sep 292014

Hauntingly standing in and out of the shadows, the Salem Main Streets Haunted Happenings Information Booth waits patiently on the corner of Essex and Washington Streets. It waits for you.

For resident and tourist alike, young and old, American and foreign traveler, it does not discriminate in its need to feed— you information. Now that it has been dropped into place, the booth sits day and night awaiting the launch of our season of service. Volunteers will start staffing Thursday from 4:30 – 6:30 pm to coincide with the Haunted Happenings kick-off Grand Parade.

Stephanie Hagyard, a volunteer since 2008, and coordinator of this year’s SMS info team says “Our shift schedule will be 2 – 6 pm on Fridays (noon – 8 pm on Halloween), 10 am – 6 pm on Saturdays and noon – 5 pm on Sundays (might vary to 11 am on Sundays depending on staffing). The only holiday is Columbus day which will be a 10 am- 4 pm effort.”

She adds, “Most shifts are filled but there are a few dates/shifts that I would like to get a third/fourth person on- and November 1st is a new addition this year that needs people.” If you would like to volunteer, contact Stephanie at shagyard@yahoo.com.

You would become part of a community of ‘community volunteers’ who have provided direction and support to nearly 140,000 visitors since 2008. And this year with Halloween on a Friday, we can expect record numbers to cross Washington Street at Essex Street (which is the location of our booth).

Asked for advance advice to offer 10/31 visitors, Stephanie offered “Park once, wear comfy shoes, walk around, dress in layers, pay attention to your surroundings; if you are at an establishment getting lunch/dinner/coffee use the bathroom even if you don’t think you need to because who knows how long lines will be at other restrooms that are public.”

That’s the kind of straightforward, we believe useful info, you need from the booth volunteers, along with where the “witch this” and “witch that” are located.

The Info Booth beckons you….

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