It was a good "Cider Monday" this week at the Red Balloon Book Shop in St. Paul.
"Cyber Monday" is the burgeoning online promotion driven by the big-box Amazons, Targets, Best Buys and Wal-Marts to stimulate holiday sales. It follows the ultra-pivotal Thanksgiving night shopping, followed by "Black Friday," which now has extended for the whole Thanksgiving weekend.
It all merges into seemingly never-ending holiday-sales hype and glitz.
Cider Monday is employed by some independent retailers.
"We've done it for a couple of years," said Holly Weinkauf, owner of 11-employee Red Balloon. "It's not high-tech, although we did use an electric hot pot to warm the cider. Customers seem to like it. We had a good day."
The fourth quarter, just as at the huge retailers, makes the year at Red Balloon. The tactics are just different at the 32-year-old Grand Avenue shop, which also sells education toys and games. For example, last Saturday local authors volunteered to work as book sellers and make recommendations to customers as part of national initiative by independent booksellers. On Monday, Santa Claus will work a shift. But instead of kids telling Santa what they want, Santa asks kids to select a book for needy kids. Red Balloon matches each customer gift with a book. The beneficiary is "Project Reach" of the St. Paul Public Schools, which distributes books at the holidays to homeless and transient kids in the district.
"Last year we provided 600 books between us and customers," Weinkauf said. "The kids get their own books. They really seem to like that."
Those independent retailers know their communities and a bit about marketing, too.
Red Balloon is a member of the 400-plus member Metro Independent Business Alliance that advocates consumers shop local, independently owned businesses because they keep neighborhoods stronger and also recycle local dollars within the community.
