New Initiative Brings Uptown Shopping To You
SAINT JOHN- The recent surge of Covid-19 cases in New Brunswick, particularly in Saint John, has left many people hesitant to physically go out shopping. But a group representing businesses in uptown Saint John wants to help bring uptown shopping to locals no matter where they live.
Uptown Saint John is offering local delivery in Greater Saint John for uptown business free of charge to both the business and the customer. The initiative called “Uptown in Your Town” aims to give people a way to do their holiday shopping locally, even if they’re not comfortable doing so in-person.
“The thought for us is we want to make uptown Saint John and all the special stores and the wonderful treasures that we have up here, we want to make those available for absolutely everyone,” says Trish Hamilton, marketing and communications director at Uptown Saint John.
“Even if you’re not comfortable coming uptown, we want to be able to bring uptown to you.”
The service is offered to customers who live in Saint John, Grand-Bay Westfield, Rothesay and Quispamsis who place orders of $25 or more. The deliveries are done by two Uptown Saint John staff.
So far the organization considers the initiative very successful. Right now, they are delivering around 35 to 40 parcels per day.
Thirty-two businesses have signed up for the free delivery and so far 18 have used the service. Pamela Wheaton owner of Heartbreak Boutique and co-owner of Obscurity Shop, says her customers have been taking advantage of the service.
“It’s been a huge help for us to be able to offer that to our customers, especially where we are limited to how many people we can have in the store,’ she says. “We’ve chosen just to do a single bubble at a time. Being able to offer this free service, people are loving it and are taking huge advantage of it, so it’s great.”
Though the Uptown in Your Town initiative started as a way to help local businesses during the pandemic, Hamilton says it’s a service they may consider offering again next year.
“This is definitely something we would look at again next year because we’re here to support our business,” says Hamilton. “It seems like it’s working for them and it’s certainly working for us.”