Saturday’s Egg Bowl could provide a profitable Black Friday shopping experience for Starkville retailers, big and small.
To help cast a wide net for its chamber members, the Greater Starkville Development Partnership is marketing its second ever Black Friday Bonanza, which advertises large sales for 42 participating retailers and restaurants.
At its heart, Black Friday Bonanza is a retail push marketed as a tourism event and aimed at the thousands of visitors in town for Mississippi State University’s game against Ole Miss. It promotes sales on specific items and storewide discounts.
A list of participating businesses can be found at Visit.Starkville.org.
“People can visit the site and plan their shopping day, much like they do for national retailers,” said Greater Starkville Development Partnership Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Gregory. “There’s power in promoting retail as a whole in Starkville, and that’s evident in the retail success of Black Friday Bonanza, Bulldog Brunch and Browse and UnWINE Downtown. While stores have direct and indirect competition, people really come out and shop all over Starkville when we make shopping an event for the whole town.”
Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau, an organization under the Partnership’s management, launched Black Friday Bonanza in 2013. This year’s event is its second since they’re only formally held on home Egg Bowl weekends.
The Partnership uses a portion of its advertising funds to market chamber businesses choosing to participate in the event.
Sales can vary: From storewide discounts at Deep South Pout and Last Man Standing, to specials on gift cards at DeRego’s Bread and item-specific sales at numerous other locations, shoppers will have plenty of choices Friday.
Rebecca Tabb, of boutique clothier R Tabb & Co., said her business greatly benefited from the Partnership’s first advertising push during 2013’s Black Friday Bonanza.
Previously, she said, her business and others in Starkville rarely opened their doors because the perception was local businesses did not offer the same sales opportunities as big-box stores.
“(The Partnership’s efforts are) awesome,” she said. “I tell other friends with businesses that it’s your responsibility to advertise and open your doors up. The Partnership cannot bring customers to your doors alone, but everything they do is absolutely helpful. Having Black Friday Bonanza gives us a three-day weekend with tourists, which includes Bulldog Brunch and Browse on Sunday. There are plenty of people in town, and it’s upon us to keep our doors open for them to shop in our stores.”
Black Friday opening times for Columbus stores
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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