Downtown Denville

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Celebrating Small Business Saturday

We can think of no better way to celebrate Small Business Saturday than to share this two minute video highlighting our wonderful downtown community. You’re sure to recognize many of your favorite stores, restaurants, and sights (and maybe even a Denville resident!), and perhaps discover a new place you’ve never noticed before.

Although Small Business Saturday is a great way to celebrate small business owners everywhere, we’d like to think it’s not just relegated to one day a year. They need your continued support each and every day.

Enjoy the video, and please share it. Although this holiday season looks very different than seasons past, the festive lit wreaths are up, the clock tower is decorated, there are reindeer at the point, a snowman statue at the fountain and even little decorated trees throughout the downtown district. We hope you enjoy visiting downtown as much as we love having you.

How to Support our Downtown Community

There is no question that the holidays are uncertain as COVID numbers continue to rise, which leaves our small business owners wondering how the next few months will play out for them. This is a crucial time, as they rely heavily on holiday shopping and entertaining to continue to remain profitable, and they need our support.

There are a number of different ways that you can help small businesses now, and in the coming months, and many don’t even require you to spend money. And if you ARE spending money, the more of it that you can spend locally, the more you can help our community to not only survive, but thrive. With plenty of free parking and a unique assortment of stores, restaurants, and professional services for you to take advantage of, set a goal to do as much as you can without ever leaving town.

  • Plan your holiday meals and have them catered by our local restaurants (or, if you’re doing the cooking, buy as many of the ingredients as you can at our stores like Dash of Thyme, Grassroots, Sergios, Denville Seafood and more)
  • Recommend our small businesses on social media when you see people asking for referrals, and include links to their websites or social media channels
  • Set aside one day a week for takeout from your favorite restaurant, or to discover a new one
  • Take advantage of the personal shopping parties and private after hours appointments that stores are offering (Write On Gifts, Sisters, and Surprises in Store are a few examples)
  • Write online reviews for your favorite businesses on Google, Yelp, and Facebook. This helps their social media pages grow, and helps others discover them
  • Focusing on health? Sign up for livestream options of your favorite fitness classes, or use this opportunity to try something new (Pure Barre and Prana Yoga are some places to start)
  • Follow your favorite small businesses on Facebook and Instagram, and like, comment and share their posts. Follow Downtown Denville on Facebook and Instagram too, and keep up with news, events, promos and more
  • If you have a discount card for a local shop, consider keeping it in your wallet and skipping the extra discount for now. Let the store have every penny
  • Give the gift of an experience and buy online classes from the businesses that are offering them (Art Classes with Mary Shadbolt, Uptown Art, Gateway to the Arts, Let’s Create, and Sweet Expressions by Geri are a few)
  • Take photos of our beautiful downtown and share on your social media (tag us on Facebook and Instagram and #DowntownDenville and we’ll share them as well)
  • Buy gift cards for holiday gift giving (but also, if you have old gift cards, hold off on using them now, if you can. The businesses need every extra penny in their till that they can gather)
  • Invite your friends to like our Facebook and Instagram pages – the more people we can reach, the more people we can share our downtown businesses with
  • See something you need online? Check our downtown businesses and see if they have it before ordering from a big online retailer. Many will do special orders if they don’t have it
  • Feeling uncomfortable being out and about? Call in your order to the local store or check their web site for online ordering. Many offer free local delivery and curbside pick up.

The Holidays in downtown Denville

While we have discussed a Denville After Dark event for the holidays, in view of the new recent restrictions and slow and steady incline of COVID cases, we will not be able to have one. That being said, it is crucial that everyone supports our local small business community as much as possible. Many stores are offering private after-hours shopping, local delivery, outside pick up, and more.

Downtown Denville will be sharing more ways you can support your favorite small business over the next few weeks, but we encourage you to keep as much of your spending in Denville as possible so we can ensure these business make it to 2021.

Halloween Trick-or-Treating Downtown

Nothing in 2020 has been the same — and Halloween won’t be an exception. Halloween has never been a Downtown Denville/BID formalized event, and was always at the discretion of the stores. Because of the uncertainty of the pandemic, and the slowly rising numbers, we are strongly recommending business owners not participate in encouraging trick-or-treaters this year.  While we greatly value shoppers supporting our stores, we ask that residents respect necessary safety measures and also refrain from having children trick-or-treat at downtown Denville stores and shops this year. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released holiday guidelines, including for Halloween, and have advised people to avoid high-risk activities including hayrides, traditional trick-or-treating, and indoor costume parties. 

We understand this may be disappointing, but we encourage everyone to partake in more low-key events like having an online pumpkin decorating contest and decorating your store windows. Hopefully residents have also been able to enjoy the various outdoor activities recently from the Township Library, Rotary, and other organizations, like the trunk or treats and small parades. 

Buy Early, Buy In Denville

Our downtown businesses offer something unique that malls, big box stores, and online retailers don’t. And you might not even realize it.

The business owners are actually on premises every single day, and these are some of their faces.

These businesses aren’t just investments to them. They are the heart, sweat, blood, and tears of how they support their family, and the fulfillment of some of their big childhood dreams. They are in their stores helping you select the perfect gift, making suggestions for a new outfit you want, and sizing your feet for a pair of shoes. They are planning the menu, choosing just the right ingredients, and making your meal. They are ringing up your purchases, gift wrapping, sweeping the floor, taking out the recycling, staying early and closing late. They remember your name, ask about your kids, and when they thank you for coming in, it’s sincere.

As the holiday season is barreling towards us, the future of many of our small businesses is uncertain. Running a small business is challenging enough, but with the twists and turns that 2020 and the pandemic has thrown them, it is important that you continue to support small businesses whenever possible to ensure that your favorite stores and restaurants are still here next year. While downtown Denville has been relatively lucky that we haven’t lost businesses yet directly due to COVID-19, that doesn’t mean they don’t need your attention. They do. This holiday season matters in a very big way to them, and to our community, and we can’t stress the importance of shopping and eating local enough.

Many of our businesses offer online ordering, free delivery, and some have even been known to facetime you from the store to help you select the perfect gift if you can’t come in. When considering the lure of free shipping from online retailers, just remember the names of the businesses that are on the backs of shirts that Little League kids are wearing at the baseball games and who is putting together and donating Tricky Tray baskets for your local fundraising event.

Beyond supporting these businesses with your dollars, you can also support them by liking their Facebook and Instagram pages, and commenting on and sharing their posts. That engagement helps their pages get seen by more and grow their audience. Have you had a wonderful experience with one of our downtown businesses? Leave them a review on their Facebook, Google or Yelp pages.

Although the holiday season seems far away, it starts now. And with you. Thank you, as always, for your continued support of our community. It’s what will keep us the number one downtown in Morris County. Now let’s finish 2020 strong.