“We’ve got a pretty good start. There’s several thousand still available,” he said.
Hamilton City Council in March gave the Hamilton Economic Development Corp., an arm of the chamber, $300,000 to help businesses remain afloat and keep paying employees during company closures mandated by the state.
“We did send a reminder out to all the merchants (on Friday) to remind them that June 1 is when they could start seeing them come in,” Bates said. “We just reminded the merchants to make sure that their front-line people are well educated on how to process them, accept them, and that type of thing.”
“We want this to be as seamless and positive an experience as possible” for gift-certificate customers, Bates said.
Bill Herren, owner of Main Street Vinyl, said the money, which served as a loan to businesses, “definitely helped us.”
“Between that, and we created a new website,” he said. “So we started selling a lot of stuff through our website, and online.”
“Without that, it would have been a little difficult,” he said.
The website is www.mainstvinyl.com.
His store, at 222 Main St., now is open three days a week, as it restocks, he said. Those days are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 6. He plans to return to regular days next week.
“Surprisingly, it’s been very good,” Herren said of business since the reopening. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s better than I ever thought it would be starting back up. We’ve had some really good days.”
He’s planning a customer appreciation day sometime in the next few days.
The chamber of commerce's website, www.hamilton-ohio.com, lists 62 businesses for which gift cards can be purchased.
One benefit of purchasing the gift cards, if they are a gift for somebody else, is they can be emailed directly to that person, rather than the purchaser having to physically hand it to the recipient, Bates said.
For people who want to buy physical gift certificates themselves, the chamber this summer is planning to open a “booth facade,” so people can walk up to a window at the chamber’s office at 201 Dayton St. and pick them up that way.
Bates said he’s proud of the initiative the city of Hamilton took to create the program.
“If you talk about a retail-and-restaurant stimulus package, we were the first to come out with anything,” he said. “A lot of communities have them now, but we were really the first to have it up and running, and had the money in the hands of the merchants who needed it, but to have the gift-certificate program ready to go.”
The money came from a Hamilton reserve fund that had been built up to $2 million in recent years. Funds that are recovered through sale of the gift certificates will return to the HEDC, likely to be used as a revolving fund to spur further economic development in Hamilton.
$300,000 program helping city businesses stay afloat
Here are the Hamilton businesses whose gift certificates are being sold through the program:
A Chatti Hair Salon
A Game Knight
A&A Pretty Pets
Alexanders Market
Almond Sisters Bakery
Arches Saloon
Basil 1791
Bee Driving School
Benison Event Center
BEYOUTIFUL Salon Barber Spa
Blank Space
Casual Pint Hamilton
Chubby Bunny Bakery
Drink Tavern
Elite Performance & Wellness
Fleurish Home
Fretboard Brewing & Public House
Front Room on 7th
Future Great Comics
Future Great Wrestling
Hamilton Diner
High Street Cafe
Hip Boutique
Hydes Restaurant
Immortal Fitness
InsideOut Studio
JAG Sporting Goods
Kensho Karate
Lee’s The Salon
Little Nail Shop
Lounge 24
Made To Love
Main Look
Main Street Vinyl
Milillo’s Pizza
Municipal Brew Works
Neals BBQ
Petals & Wicks
Pfefferle Tire & Auto
Renaissance Fine Arts Supplies & Framing
Revive Salon
reZen Mind Body Spirit
Rib City
Richards Pizza
Roll On In
Rustic Home
Salon Lex
Sara’s House
Scattering Joy Craft Boutique
Scripted Studio
Secretly Shabby
Selah Studio Skin & Hair
SJB Home Decor Outlet
Strauss Gift Shop
Tanfastic Tan
Tano Bistro
Toni’s Hair Salon
True West Coffee
Two Little Buds
Unsung Salvage
Village Parlor Hamilton
Wildfire Home & Gift
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