Downtown Denville

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Win a Downtown Denville Shopping Spree!

‘Tis the season for giving! This week Downtown Denville kicked off its three week long Shopping Spree contest! Head downtown and peek in some of the store and restaurant windows and you’ll find our Shopping Spree poster. Pull out your phone, open the camera and scan the QR code. Follow the prompts and fill out the info and you’ll be automatically be entered. That’s it!

Two $250 shopping sprees will be given away every week, and we’ll be doing this for three weeks … so six winners in all! Winners will get to choose up to three businesses in the downtown district to use their shopping spree dollars.

Good luck!

THANKS TO ALL THAT ENTERED AND CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS !

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.