Edina offers a one-stop online shop

From parks and rec registration to special Edina-centric gifts, the city's website offers more than most.

By MARY JANE SMETANKA, Star Tribune

Last update: November 11, 2009 - 10:17 AM

At the Edina Store, residents can order wine, get a dog license, enroll in a pottery class, buy a senior center membership or purchase a pack of Edina-themed playing cards.

It all happens on a single web page linked directly from the City of Edina's home page on the Internet.

"We wanted a one-stop shop," said Jennifer Bennerotte, the city's communications director. "It's a customer expectation now.

"It's a matter of giving people a choice -- do you want to come in to the art center and register, or do you want to do it online?"

It's not uncommon for cities to offer online perks for residents such as web registration for community education classes or e-mail alerts about the latest special at the municipal liquor store. What is unusual about the Edina Store is that the city has grouped web transactions together on one prominently displayed web page.

Bennerotte said the Edina Store page went up about six years ago. While many of the e-commerce functions are available on other pages in the city's website, she said the idea was to make things convenient on a website that is more than 3,000 pages deep.

"Our customers demand that flexibility," she said. "This is how business is done today. If we didn't have that available, we might lose the sale."

People can register for Edina Art Center classes and park and recreation programs on the site. It sells memberships and passes to the Aquatic Center, the senior center, the art center and Edinborough Park. Building permits, dog licenses and parking restrictions and parking permits can be applied for through the site.

Used chaise longues from the Aquatic Center are sometimes available for sale. And there are Edina-centric items such as history books about the city and Braemar Golf Course, limited edition prints of Edinborough Park, 3-by-5-foot green Edina flags and two sets of playing cards, one with the lit Edina Theatre marquee on the back, the other showing Centennial Lakes Park. The flip sides of the cards feature city trivia and the logo of sponsoring businesses that helped pay for printing the cards.

There are restrictions. People can order wine, but must pay for and pick it up in person so officials know they are of legal age.

Edina uses PayPal to process credit card payments, using a simple program that doesn't have a shopping cart. That means a mom registering three kids for a park and rec program has to make three separate transactions, but it keeps the costs of running the page down, Bennerotte said. She said maintenance of the website is done in-house, and an online service fee of $1 is charged for online program registration, which covers the credit card charge and web costs.

Driven by season passes to the city pool, April is the busiest month for Internet sales. This year, sales totaled almost $134,000 that month, with $102,000 spent on pool passes. November was the slowest month in the last year, with sales barely reaching $2,400.

The playing cards have been a perennial favorite both on the website and in the community. They're sold at the front desk at City Hall and in stores around the city for $3 to $5 a pack. Demand was high enough for the first set featuring Centennial Lakes that a second set with the Edina Theatre marquee was printed.

The cards include trivia -- like the fact that the first movie ever shown at the Edina Theatre was "The Good Ship Lollipop" and the first female election judge came from Edina in 1920.

"They build community, remind people of our heritage and history," Bennerotte said. "And they're good stocking stuffers."

Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380

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