Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce encourages businesses to go live for Retail To Go Friday

From window shopping to screen shopping, the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce is encouraging its members to go live April 24 for its first Retail To Go Friday.

MACC Director Shannan Reid said in an email she is encouraging all Montgomery businesses to go live on Facebook to share the products they are offering and how they have adapted services during the pandemic.

“Each business will decide on their own what time they want to go live, anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours,” Reid said. “It will be whatever works best for their business.”

Reid said the owner of the Cozy Grape in downtown Montgomery, Tom Cronin, had experimented with Facebook Live and saw great interaction with customers and even made sales during the livestream.

“These are the baby steps of getting ready for our new normal and how to engage with our local community,” Reid said.

Despite the pandemic “significantly” slowing down business, Reid said the community has come to support Montgomery businesses. Although virtual tools such as livestreams can help businesses during this time, she said she is looking forward to interacting with consumers again.

“We love knowing our local people. I often tell new businesses and residents coming to town that we are more relational than most communities,” Reid said. “So once we are back in full swing, I am looking forward to seeing our people out around town, catching up on people they’ve missed, and spending their dollars with businesses right here!”