Kathy Toppins
EDMOND — “Love your community. Shop Edmond first.” Those are the words on a new poster popping up around Edmond as residents prepare to shop on Black Friday.
Roseann Gerah-Nida plans to start her holiday shopping at the Edmond Target. “I love it. I get up at 4 a.m. and start the morning waiting in line at Target. There are lots of people there, even with their kids. I am so surprised,” Gerah-Nida said.
Shopping with her husband Carl Nida, she finds the day “so fun and challenging,” Gerah-Nida said. “When we’re looking for that one gift and a better gift pops up, it’s Eureka! I am so much happier.”
Bryanne Wallace, owner of Fashion Boutique, 104 S. Broadway, said the downtown businesses won’t try to compete with the 5 a.m. sales offered this Friday at large chain stores, but she encouraged shoppers to enjoy the experience of shopping downtown later in the day.
“We enjoy a slower pace here,” Wallace said. “Shoppers don’t have to be worried about people being knocked down in our stores.” Downtown Edmond shops offer a more traditional, small-town Christmas atmosphere and great merchandise, she added.
The City of Edmond, Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce, Edmond Economic Development Authority and Edmond Convention and Visitors Bureau are working together to promote local shopping this holiday season.
All four entities are promoting the “Shop Edmond” campaign through posters for local businesses to hang in windows, advertising in local papers and postcards distributed throughout the community.
“It’s really important to keep tax dollars in Edmond to support our local police and fire departments, parks and recreation, all those entities that are financed through the Edmond sales tax,” said Ken Moore, chamber president.
Edmond’s sales tax is 7.75 percent, with 4.5 percent of that amount going back to the State of Oklahoma. The city’s sales tax rate remains one of the lowest in the metro area with Oklahoma City’s sales tax rate at 8.375 percent and Guthrie’s at 9.25 percent.
The four groups involved in the “Shop Edmond” campaign offer reasons to shop locally including that the city uses a small percentage of its sales tax dollars to give back to social agencies in the community such as the HOPE Center, Edmond Mobile Meals, Edmond Family Services and UR Special Ministries. Other ways sales tax benefits residents include support for parks and recreation programs and venues, city services including police and fire and many other programs.
