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Alpena DDA to host second virtual shopping event

ALPENA, Mich. — The Alpena Downtown Development Authority will be hosting a Downtown Virtual Night on Thursday, June 4 from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Seven downtown merchants have signed up to participate, including: Great Lakes Divers , Olivet Book & Gift , Family Enterprise, Soaps And Such , The Local Basket Case LLC – Alpena , Traveling Ladders and Yarns to Go & Fabrics.

The participating downtown merchants will be going LIVE on their own Facebook Pages at the start of every half hour. Some merchants will be selling their products, some may be giving virtual tours of their stores. Those interested in attending the event are encouraged to like and follow each participating business’ page so they’ll be notified when they go live. When attendees join the Facebook Lives, they’ll be able to engage with each merchant in the comments. If the business is selling products or items, they can comment on what they’d like and each merchant will follow up after they’ve ended their Facebook Live to organize payment and pick-up, shipping, or delivery.

The official schedule of Facebook Lives for this Thursday is as follows:

  • 4 PM – 4:30 PM Olivet Book & Gift
  • 4:30 PM – 5:00 PM Family Enterprise Inc.
  • 5 PM – 5:30 PM Traveling Ladders
  • 5:30 PM – 6 PM Soaps and Such
  • 6 PM – 6:30 PM Yarns to Go & Fabrics
  • 6:30 PM – 7 PM Great Lakes Divers
  • 7 PM – 7:30 PM The Local Basket Case

“There are a few reasons to continue hosting virtual events like this. The first is that even as things are reopening, a lot of people don’t feel safe shopping for non-essential products still. The second is that social media can be a powerful tool to show potential customers and people who have never been in a store what they can expect. These events help develop relationships between customers both locally and state-wide who don’t shop downtown,” said Kingsli Kraft, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator for the Alpena DDA.

For more information about the Downtown Virtual Shopping night, the Alpena DDA Facebook page.