Business & Tech

Scores Spend in East Quogue Cash Mob

Effort to inject local dollars into local economy draws over 100, organizer estimates.

Saturday afternoon in East Quogue, scores of locals of all ages met on the Village Green to hit Main Street with a new spin on a timeless effort: shopping at local businesses.

"Cash mobs" took off last fall - according to a Cash Mob website, the first one took place in Buffalo last summer - in an effort to keep local shops alive and well. Typically, a group of participants show up in a predetermined place at a set time with $20 cash in hand. A horn blows, and off the locals go, injecting local dollars into the local economy.

East Quogue resident Kris Vanderslice saw the trend as an opportunity to help out mom and pops in her village. She, along with fellow members of the East Quogue Ladies' Sanity Society, put the word out for the event.

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"It blew me away," she said on Monday morning. "I was in awe. It was a really amazing experience. People were so happy about it, which was great."

Between couples, parents and the $20 bills they slipped their kids, and individuals who just read about the cash mob and travelled to East Quogue to support local businesses, Vanderslice estimated that about 100 cash mobbers hit downtown East Quogue.

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Katrina Lovett came from Riverhead and attended . She said, "I like supporting local businesses, and these are a good way to give them a boost."

The cash mobs that have occurred in Eastern Suffolk have seemed to buck the trend in that the mobs hit a variety of businesses, as opposed to a single one. Most of the cash mobs organized - at least those on the Cash Mob website - have focused their energies on a single business.

The more inclusive event in East Quogue had a handful of local shops participating, as several offered discounts to those shopping in the area on Saturday.

offered free appetizers and half-off drinks at the conclusion of the mob at 5 p.m. Calico Gardens offered a $10 gift card for anyone who spent $20 cash. Sandy Toes gave customers a bevy of discounted options, and offered 20 percent off, as did . owner Peter Haskell offered 10 percent off, as did

"I'm really flattered that everyone would make the effort to support us," Haskell said.

Carol Combes - a member of the East Quogue Historical Society - said she tries to shop local, and Saturday's cash mob was a good opportunity for her to get something she'd been eyeing at Calico Gardens. 

"I already picked out my mother's day gift," she said.

As dozens walked down the sidewalks on Saturday, Vanderslice said she noticed a difference in early-season traffic in East Quogue, and was glad that she - along with her neighbors - could help liven things up.

"We were in New Moon last Saturday afternoon spreading the word and there were five people at the bar at 5 p.m. last week," she said. "This week, they were three deep. And the weather was beautiful too. Luckily we didn't get Sunday's weather. Otherwise it would have just been a nice idea."


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