Boutique Crawl

Many boutiques on Elmwood Ave. participated in Elmwood’s second Annual Boutique Crawl that happens on Black Friday.

The event, (put together by The Elmwood Village Association) gives customers a chance to check out the boutiques and unique shops on Elmwood Ave.

It also gave the shops a chance to gain new customers and showcase their items.

The event began with “Check-in” which began at 8 AM and ran until 11 AM. After, each participant received a crawl "punch card" and map with the list and location of all the shops participating.

A record 40 stores participated this year compared to 32 stores last year.

Debbie Sidel

Bill Sidel, the husband of Debbie Sidel, the owner of Half & Half Trading Company on 1088 Elmwood Ave. said that this year was a success.

“We did something we never did before. We carry this brand called Eileen Fisher and we did special discount on it,” said Bill Sidel.

They also half priced all their sale items.

“Both days were way better than the year before, in my opinion. I would say it was the most successful Friday and Saturday that we may have had.”

Thin Ice, on 719 Elmwood Ave., gave her customers free hot chocolate packets and hot chi tea packets.

Owner of Thin Ice, Therese Deutschlander also participated in this year and last year’s crawl, as well as Small Business Saturday.

She said being a small business, the exposure from Boutique Crawl was nice.

“We were open anyways and it is nice to get new customers into the shop,” Deutschlander said.

Clutch, owned by Sue Marfino, is another boutique that has participated both years.

Marfino said this year she also saw an improvement in sales and new customers.

Her deals this year were a combination of ½ priced jewelry and ½ priced socks, as she did last year.

“I put the socks half priced again because it was a hit last year,” Marfino said.

Marfino said she decided to participate in Boutique Crawl for the same reasons as everyone else: the great exposure as a small business.

Clutch even participated in the Small Business Saturday, giving the same discounts to the customers.

Now that holiday season is here, participating stores are still giving deals on their items to their customers.

Some stores are even staying open until 9pm for the late shopping customers.