Chamber Encourages Residents to 'Shop Howell'

With the holiday shopping season coming to a close, the Howell wants to remind residents that they have plenty of places to shop without ever leaving the town. 

As part of that effort the organization is holding a "Shop Howell" contest. For those people who take part there are plenty of impressive rewards even in its first year of being held. 

For those interested, taking part is as easy as keeping your receipts. The event started on Black Friday and goes until New Years Eve, with shoppers encouraged to collect their receipts from their shopping in the town and neighboring members of the chamber. They must then be returned to the chamber by Jan 6, 2012 and whoever has the most receipts from the most Howell businesses wins the contest. 

The winner receives more than $750 in discounts and gift cards to local businesses with second place getting more than $250 worth of prizes and third place getting more than $100 in prizes.

Sue Dominguez, the Executive Director of the chamber, said the goal is to keep money coming into township businesses, helping the local economy as a whole. She said that for every dollar spent, 68 percent stays in the town. "It's really really important to help with this economy," she said.  

The program not only applies to stores in the town, but also restaurants and any company in Howell. "Whether you're going to a restaurant, going to the dentist, going to a lawyer or going to pay your car insurance, whatever you do in Howell hold onto that receipt," Dominguez said. 

One of the places taking part in the program is . Cory Wingerter, the owner of the popular restaurant is also serving as the president of the chamber. He said it is important to help keep people shopping in Howell rather than going to some of the other neighboring towns. "We're trying to drive home that when you shop local the dollars stay local," he said. 

Wingerter said that applies to his own business where he buys a lot of his produce from places like knowing that the owners of that business will be coming to eat at his establishment.

In total Dominguez said there are more than 1200 businesses in Howell and the chamber alone has more than 268 members where residents and other area residents can shop and take part in the program. "The opportunity is endless just up and down Route 9 and Route 33," she said. 

With this being their first year doing this, Dominguez said they are excited to see what the end result is. "I would be delighted if we get a huge turnout for this," she said. 

So if you're going to take part in the festivities, make sure you start holding onto your receipts for a chance to win the prizes just for shopping Howell.