This Year's Christmas Bucks Program Is Bigger Than Ever

IRONWOOD, MI - Saturday, November 21, 2009 - Thirty-three Downtown businesses are participating in this year's Downtown Christmas Bucks promotion. They are: (1) Backstreet Cycle; (2) Bale Clock and Watch; (3) Ben's Place;  (4) Bookworld; (5) Brewster's Northwoods Bar; (6) Constantini's Furniture; (7) Creative Spirits Stamping;  (8) The Fabric Patch;  (9) Fitness Express; (10) Floors N' Mor West; (11) Gasparick's Music;  (12) Gogebic Area Thrift; (13) Handsome Prints; (14) Knight Club Billiards;  (15) Last Tangle; (16) Medicine Shoppe; (17) Midwest Office Supply; (18) New Beginnings; (19) North Light Photography; (20) Northwind Natural Foods; (21) Northwoods Cabin; (22) Olde Suffolk Ale House; (23) Old World Meats; (24) Pines Cafe; (25) Pizza King Joe; (26) Rigoni's Bakery; (27) Ronnie's Camera Shop; (28) Salon Metamorphose; (29) St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store; (30) Superior Shoes (31) Superior Chronicle; (32) Tacconelli's Restaurant; and (33) Uptown Cafe.

Downtown Ironwood was once a bustling shopping district -- especially before Christmas -- with crowds of people coming to shop the many stores. For those folks too young to remember, police officers directed traffic at the Main Street intersections on Friday Nights. While the stores have thinned out and traffic control is no longer needed, downtown has alot to offer. High quality, unique merchandise, great restaurants and shops that offer the personal service you won't find at the bix box stores or on the Internet.

Last year, Northwinds Natural Foods Co-op manager Eva Smith-Furgason introduced the new shopping promotion. Buying from one local merchant allows participants to receive discounts at other Downtown stores.

"I'm very excited about this promotion" said Eva Smith-Furgason. "We have had a great deal more interest and have added nine new participants this year. I hope that this will bring the downtown merchants closer and promote more cooperation among all the stores"

According to Smith-Furgason, "If you spend ten dollars at a participating store, you get a Christmas Buck. The more you spend, the more you get. If you spend sixty dollars you get six Christmas Bucks. You can take that Christmas Buck and redeem it for $1.00 off a $10 purchase at any of the other participating locations."

The Christmas Bucks  promotion is loosely based on the concept of local currency. Using the bucks show clearly is how money spent locally circulates locally. Ironwood's downtown employs many people and is vital to a vibrant local economy - check out the downtown before shopping elsewhere - and you may just find you don't need to go far to get the good stuff!