Sunday, December 13, 2009

'Tis The Season To Be Hoppy!

Shop-hoppy, that is! Because the North Lake Pole Winter Festival and Shop Hop was cut short by the pounding deluge Saturday afternoon, the businesses involved will extend the qualification time for the Grand Raffle until December 24th. During this time, visit the listed merchants/businesses/restaurants and get a star affixed to your Shop Hop card. No purchase or obligation is required for the star on your card so why not explore places you haven't been to yet, meet new people or say hello to old friends you haven't seen for awhile? What better time than the holidays, when you're out and about anyway? Once you get some stars on your card, you'll be eligible for an entry into the most exciting raffle ever! So many marvelous prizes, all generously donated by our local business owners, and just in time for the holidays. The grand prize will be a new bicycle from Steve's Bike Shop and there will be many more exciting giveaways. We'll pick the winners on Christmas Eve, December 24th, and the winner need not be present. I can't think of a better way to celebrate Altadena along with the holiday season.

Due to last Saturday's rain, WFS will be hosting a Holiday Open House this Saturday, December 19th. We'd love you to join us for holiday festivities, fun and food! We open at 10:00 am and the party starts then with pastries, hot coffee and cider. From 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm, hearty appetizers and other surprises will be on the menu and from 4:00 pm until closing at 6:00 pm, dessert is on us! We invite you to drop by - get your Shop Hop card with its first star on it from WFS, and stay for top-notch shopping, shipping and good old fashioned holiday fun! Shopping or shipping at this time of year is fun, you ask? It sure is when you've got beautiful music to listen to, interesting merchandise to peruse, delicious munchies to nibble and good friends to greet! It's a lot of fun, too, when you win one of the many door prizes we'll be giving away.

There's one other benefit to our Shop Hop, can you guess it? It's the great feeling you'll get from helping to support not only your local businesses, but the economic health of Altadena as well. Civic pride might be something we tend to smirk at these days but it's something that's absolutely needed right here and right now! We've all seen the warning signs and have already witnessed the closing of many of our local places of business - it's time now to rally to support those that remain, lest they disappear also. If we collectively direct our buying at local, independent businesses it will increase Altadena's bottom line by funneling funds back into the community. It funnels back in by increasing the ability of these businesses to pay their taxes, both sales tax and employment tax. It funnels back by keeping their staff employed and the people employed spend money in other local businesses. It funnels back as the different businesses use other service providers, such as accountants, payroll services, janitors and printers. We invite you to read about The 3/50 Project at www.the350project.net - it certainly puts what I've just said into perspective.

The holidays are a perfect time for us to express our gratitude to our loyal customers - thank you from the bottom of our hearts! You've helped us survive this year and you'll help us thrive in the future so remember to join us this Saturday, even if just for a few minutes. Let us take this opportunity to wish all of you a warm and wonderful holiday season!

UPDATE 12/16/09 The Christmas Tree Lane Association will be joining in the fun on Saturday, too! Come see the many charming items they have at their Boutique, which will be set up in front of WFS and Galloway Alley, and help support this worthy Altadena institution!

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