A pair of Queen Anne businesses is taking part in shopping event this Friday and Saturday designed to encourage shoppers to support the local economy.
Blue Highway Games (2203 Queen Anne Ave. N.) and Nancy’s Sewing Basket (2221 Queen Anne Ave. N.) are among more than 50 businesses across the city participating in Little Boxes.
The event started several years ago in Portland as a way to encourage people to shop at locally owned, specialty retailers. This year, organizers made the move to expand the event to Seattle.
So, aside from supporting local businesses, what’s in it for shoppers?
Shoppers get a free raffle entry just by visiting any participating store, and can earn more entries on the fourth, eighth, and 12th purchase. After every purchase, shoppers get 10 percent off at the next Little Boxes store they visit.
To track entries, shops have visit codes on display, and a secret purchase code given at the time of a transaction. Those codes can be entered in real-time through the Little Boxes app on iPhone or Android, or later on the Little Boxes website. A paper passport can be picked up at any participating shop to write down codes for later entry. The deadline for passport codes is 11 p.m. on Monday.
Scott Cooper of Blue Highway Games said he was interested by the visibility that participating could bring.
“Anything that draws attention to small businesses is intriguing to me,” he said. “Black Friday on Queen Anne, and I assume in Magnolia has never been really a big time, because people are headed to the malls, or they’re headed downtown, so it’s a little bit of a different kind of environment when you’re in a smaller neighborhood like this anyway, and so I think something that brings attention to small businesses, and makes people think about them during that weekend, seemed like a good idea to me.”
For more information, go to sea.shoplittleboxes.com.