West Loop Community Organization’s Post

Holiday shopping made easy—and meaningful! 🎁 Find the perfect gifts for friends and family while supporting local businesses that make our community shine. Not sure where to start? Check out your BeLocal magazine for the best local spots to shop, sip, and celebrate this season! 🎄 #belocal #belocalmagazine #newmovers #communitysupport #localbusinesses #smallbusinesses

There is no denying that alot of the solutions to social and environmental issues we have are already with us. We just need more people to switch how they spend their money and who with. As an entrepreneur, establishing a social circular solution for Glasgow which is replicable in all cities and regions, we can't do much more to contribute to the change we need to see to slow down climate change, support sustainable consumption behaviours and tackle child poverty. We still have a long way to go, to reach our customers, to convert people to second hand, to become first choice for kids clothing. Without sounding too cheesy; be the change you want to see, use the power of your money to make a difference. And shop with ethical businesses which do the right thing!!! #ethics #ethicalchristmas #socialenterprise #circularenterprise #sustainablefashion #clothingpoverty #childpoverty #shoplocal #makeyourmoneymatter #makeadifference

Whether you celebrate the spooky season or not, Halloween is an undeniably lucrative time for many businesses. How are you capitalizing on the season? There are a lot of ways that small businesses maximize on seasonal profits. Here are some examples of how businesses tap into a consumers seasonal spending. 🎃Seasonal/ Themed Products and Services 👻Halloween Promotions, Discounts, and Marketing 🎃Halloween Decorations on your website or storefront 👻A Halloween event: a costume contest or pumpkin patch 🎃Limited-Time Halloween Menus and Pop Up Shops 👻Costume Rentals and Themed Decoration Services 🎃DIY Kits, Gift Guides, and How-to Content How have YOU been using the spooky season for sales? #WomenInBusiness #SupportWomenFounders #AccessToCapital #InvestInWomen #FemaleEntrepreneurs #FundingForWomen #BlackWomenEntrepreneurs #WomenEmpowerment #TheWildSeed

It’s Love Your High Street week (18-25th November) and as many of you know the High Street is something I’m passionate about supporting for soooo many reasons. I’ve worked in this industry for over 30 years and still passionate about it. Have you visited your local high street recently? Have you bought from it, maybe met for a coffee, had your hair cut, looked in travel agents for your next holiday or any of the other many different businesses that are there working hard to serve you. It’s not just about the business for me, although that’s massively important obviously as we need to support them so they can continue to support our communities, our local economy and their employees. For me it’s the whole social experience, it’s where we learn as children to engage with others, to be excited by the colours, the designs, the sights and smells that inspire us. It’s where we meet others, we switch off from our phones and have a coffee with friends, or enjoy a meal or drink. It’s where we catch up with our hairdresser, the salon, the barber and chat about life, sharing stories and making ourselves feel better by looking after ourselves. It’s where we look in travel shop windows, wondering where to go next, where we can talk to people who know how to help, to actually talk…not on a screen online. It’s where we pop into our local corner shop for the things you’ve forgotten on the way home, or perhaps that specialist bakers for a tasty treat, or local butcher for a locally sourced produce. It’s where you go to get your eyes tested after spending too long looking at screens these days I’m convinced we all need glasses more than ever. I could go on, but you get the idea. I know there’s lots of talk of doom & gloom on our high streets, but there’s so much good stuff out there, especially our independents, who need our support. If I ask one thing of you this week, it’s to please visit your high street, if you’ve not been for a while, check it out, find something new & support our British High Street, they’re worth supporting! Off my soap box now 😉 Bira - British Independent Retailers Association #loveyourhighstreet #supportlocal #britishhighstreet

Since the 1930’s Des Moines, Iowa, kids trick-or-treated on “Beggars’ Night” – typically held on October 30th, a local custom intended to avoid Halloween night. Des Moines made the shift as in 1938 due to over 550 reported calls to Police due to vandalism – teenagers setting fires, breaking windows and sidelining street cars. This year, however, the city has decided to make an exception and allow trick-or-treating on Halloween due to predicted fair weather, inviting children to enjoy the holiday on its actual date. This change offers a reminder of how we, too, can break from old patterns when the situation calls for it. Life often asks us to pivot from tradition, to adapt when faced with circumstances beyond our control. We’re reminded of the power of flexibility and adaptation in our own lives – finding ways to embrace the unexpected, to shift plans, and ultimately, to grow in response to the world around us. Happy Halloween!hl Here’s to all the Tricks and Treats life may throw at us! #adapt #tradition #enablement #pivot #sales #gtm

Here's a photo of my "deep thinking" and "joy" reminder in December. My two kids, husband, and I made this gingerbread scene during a "competition" held by our town's rec office, in which we had to make use of a provided kit and could add to it as desired. This little village - while SURELY no work of art! we're happy amateurs, to put it mildly! - are providing weeks of festive decor, good scents, and family-unity memories...and a lot of pondering of what we value in our society, and why. We spent 2.5 hours spent huddled together in a nondescript conference room making the gingerbread village, working as a team. Ever since, walking past the scene on the dining room table has prompted spontaneous questions: Remember how Teddy had the idea for how to hold up the lollipop trees after they fell over time and again? Remember when the giant lollipop made the entire house collapse? Funny that the green hair on the gingerbread girl began as Kara's "mistake"! Sadly, amazingly, oddly, most of the families at the competition aren't having that memory-pinging experience this month. As soon as awards were announced (and I'm talking awards of gift cards to use in the rec dept - no big bucks here), the bulk of the families dumped their creations unceremoniously into the trash - including a top three winner. One woman was so bothered that she shouted, in front of her 6ish year old grandson, "Let's get out of here!" while pitching the creation into the nearest trash can. Deep breaths. I'm not meaning to judge her, nor the families who were "been there, done that, leave it behind" in their approach to the event. They may have had very good reasons for their actions that I don't know about, like no room in their house to display it, or frustration over fighting through the prolonged building experience. But I *am* fascinated by their behavior in a larger patterned sense: as possibly indicative of our societal fixation with product over process and winning/external recognition = value. Who the heck bothers to bring a rinky dinky little gingerbread house home to sit on a table for weeks on end? Especially one that didn't win? Well, maybe all of us should consider some version of it... - What are we throwing "in the trash" that could be valued and enjoyed in and of itself, regardless of outcome? - What are we rushing past, acting in the moment on " to do's" only to discard those memories and/or learnings the second we're "done"? - What are we judging as not good enough, not living up to our expectations, not as polished as X person or Y experience, instead of seeing the beauty in the effort and errors? THAT's what our silly little gingerbread village reminds me of the whole of hectic December - and I sure need the reminder! I'll miss the gingerbread scene when, inevitably, it does go in the garbage. But in the meantime, I'm grateful we carried this awkward little silly beauty home, to ground and delight us daily

Do you consider colours when picking a gift?   Colours are one of the important features we pay close attention to when curating gifts at Hampers by MJ.   We understand the effect and story every colour can create, hence, we choose them based on: 📌Your preference 📌Purpose of the gifts 📌Brand colours 📌Professionalism, and most importantly, 📌The story you want to tell through your gifts. We understand the intricacies of gifting and that is why our gifting solutions are impeccable. Let's be a part of your corporate events and celebrations.   Send us a DM today!   What do you think about these shades of blueness in these slides? 🔵💙🎁   Think Gifts, Think @hampersbymj   What are your plans for the weekend?   Please share with us. #hampersbymj #giftforalloccasion #gifthampers #corporategift #customehamper #giftbox #giftboxhampers #giftsandhampers #hampersbox

With folks doing more planning for shopping outings, it is even more important that your website reflect what you offer. Read more on my recent blog post. https://lnkd.in/eD2_8YC

With folks doing more planning for shopping outings, it is even more important that your website reflect what you offer. Read more on my recent blog post. https://lnkd.in/eD2_8YC

📸 This weekend changed how I view my neighborhood. Armed with a camera, I walked familiar streets, looking for what shapes our health. The patterns emerged quickly - and they tell a deeper story about design and access. Three liquor stores crowd within a mile radius(two .4 miles apart, from one parking lot to the next), while fresh produce sits 1.6 miles away. The math is simple: it's three times easier to buy alcohol than vegetables. Some spots lift us up: -An athletic complex open to the public, nurturing little league dreams -Parks scattered through neighborhoods, encouraging physical activity and connection -A church that doubles as a community hub fighting isolation and providing deeper purpose -Medical offices within walking distance But other designs are prohibiting: -A school intersection missing three crosswalks -Public spaces littered with discarded vape bars and crushed beer cans -Plazas pairing smoke shops with liquor stores -Distances that require a car Take a walk through your community. What helps you thrive? What holds you back? Try photovoice in your neck of the woods- a research method where community members use photography to document their lived experiences. Sometimes, a photo can reveal what statistics simply can't. #PublicHealth #HealthEquity #BuiltEnvironment #PhotoVoice #SocialDeterminants