For Crown Heights business owners looking for free publicity this holiday season, the local community board is sponsoring Shop Local 2017.

The initiative offers participating merchants with signage such as posters, flyers, and other graphics to catch shoppers’ eyes. Also, community board members will act as partners with these businesses to help them generate foot traffic.

Businesses that sign on to the program won’t have to pay a dime, organizers say. “Costs, estimated at no more than $15,000, will be paid for by friends of Community Board 9, elected officials and private businesses,” said Warren Berke, community board co-chair, who will spearhead the program with Pia Raymond, a local business owner.

“Private fundraising will be conducted as well,” Berke said.

Community board members and residents discussed details of the program at a recent Community Board 9 meeting.

Crown Heights Prepares For Shop Local 2017
L to R: Pia Raymond and Riel Peerbooms are the founders of Shop Local. | Photo by Krista Bryant/OurBKSocial

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Berke and Raymond launched Shop Local in 2014. Since that time, Shop Local has been represented on the busiest streets in the neighborhood, which helped many shops and restaurants there receive good commerce. Those streets included Nostrand Avenue, Rogers Avenue, Lincoln Road and Bedford Avenue.

Janiela Roachford, the former owner of Bella Rose Beauty, said she was happy with Shop Local.

“It was a nice event. Promotional wise, Pia Raymond helped with passing out flyers from my store which helped generate good foot traffic,” she said. (Roachford has since closed the shop because of health problems.)

Businesses along Flatbush and Utica avenues didn’t participate much in Shop Local in the previous years—a fact that organizers say they’re trying to change. Crown Heights businesses are a diverse mix of Caribbean, African American, and Hispanic owned stores. But it has been hard to get more owners on board to participate in this year’s activity, according to Valerie Fleming, a CB9 resident board member. “There are some businesses who have been a part of Shop Local, and then there are some who don’t participate,” she said.

Shop Local 2017 will begin this year on November 25 and will end on December 31. Businesses interested in participating can visit Community Board 9 or contact the district manager at 718-778-9279.