Find Waldo in Durham to Support Durham’s Shop Local Movement

Where's Waldo? In Durham, of course!

The famous children’s book character in the striped shirt and black-rimmed specs is visiting over twenty-five different local businesses throughout our community this July. Those who spot him can win prizes, including stickers, book coupons, gift certificates to local businesses, t-shirts, and more. Waldo figurines will be hidden in local establishments all over town – from Bean Traders to Durham Garden Center to One World Market to Cocoa Cinnamon to Duke Homestead to the Durham Arts Council to the Durham Public Libraries and beyond. Co-presented by the Regulator Bookshop and Sustain-a-Bull, Find Waldo Local is a great summer vacation activity, and a wonderful way for residents to support local business and Durham’s Shop Local movement.

Anyone who wishes to participate can pick up a “Find Waldo Local in Durham!” passport at the Regulator Bookshop from June 25 on, with the names of all the participating sites. Then, starting on July 1, visit participating businesses and get your passport stamped or signed for each Waldo you spot! The first 100 Waldo-seekers to get their passports stamped or signed at ten or more sites can bring their passports back to the Regulator Bookshop to collect prizes. Collecting store stamps or signatures at twenty or more businesses will entitle diligent seekers to entry in prize drawings at our wrap party on July 31, where they could win Waldo books, gift certificates to local stores, t-shirts, or our grand prize – a $100 Visa Gift Card courtesy of the Durham News.

Where’s Waldo is the creation of Martin Handford, whose entertaining drawings of crowd scenes swept the world in 1987. Since then, the Where’s Waldo books have held a cherished spot on bookstore shelves the world over. There are now over 58 million Waldo books in print worldwide and they’ve been translated into eighteen languages. An entire generation has grown up searching for Waldo and his cast of wandering companions.

In celebration of Waldo's longevity and popularity, his American publisher, Candlewick Press, is once again teaming up with the American Booksellers Association and 265 independent bookstores all across the country, including the Regulator here in Durham, for some hide and seek fun as well as to encourage communities to patronize their local businesses.  There is no charge to participate, and the hunt lasts for the entire month of July. For more information about hunting for Waldo in Durham, visit the Sustain-a-Bull website.

Learn more about local businesses in Durham.

Pay-it-Forward Comes to Durham

Sometimes running a small business can be a lonely enterprise. But in Durham, it doesn't have to be.

Wednesday, April 17 from 6:30-8:30 PM a Small Business Networking & Pay-It-Forward Event will be held at Bull City Coworking, 112 S. Duke St. Ste. 6 in Downtown Durham. Click here to register.

This event is free & open to the public, and is an opportunity to connect with small business owners in the community, share ideas, and find ways to collaborate and work together. Light refreshments will be served.

At this event, each attendee will be asked to provide a service free of charge to one other individual or local business. This could be anything from help with a business’s website or social media account, to 30 minutes of advice in an area of expertise, to doing something nice for another individual. It could be as simple as “mowing the lawn one time for someone in Old North Durham”, or bringing coffee to someone’s office, but there’s no limit to what can be offered. Both individuals and small businesses are welcome to participate.

Offers must be registered in advance using this form. Each offer will be pasted to an envelope and taped to a big wall at the event. All guests will be allowed to browse the “service offers” and leave their name or business card in as many as three of the offer envelopes. At the end of the evening, everyone takes their envelopes home and contacts the people inside to deliver their service. By accepting this free service, the individual recipient is silently promising to “pay it forward” by offering unsolicited help or favors to someone else in our community.

The goal with this event is to connect local businesses with services that they need, and for businesses to collaborate and help one another. There will also be a $100 prize for the most unusual and creative service offered, courtesy of The Durham News.

For more information about Durham, NC visit online.

Sustain-a-Bull Presents Third Annual Holiday Shop Independent Durham Week

Durham loves its hometown and independent businesses, that's for sure.  It's a place where all sorts of people from all walks of life come together to make a diverse community that welcomes everyone.

That same spirit of community and inclusion helped to drive the creation of SustainABull, a consortium of independent businesses.

Through Dec. 2 over 40 local businesses throughout Durham will participate in Sustain-a-Bull, Durham's annual shopping event. The event will feature special discounts and promotions at over 40 locally owned businesses throughout the city of Durham. Participating businesses are offering deals and exclusive offers on everything from restaurants to art galleries, clothing, home and garden supplies, and beyond.

Also new this year, Sustain-a-Bull has partnered with Bull City BUCK$ to create a Shop Independent Durham Week SCANvenger Hunt, creating even more incentives to visit participating locally owned businesses. Customers can download the free Bull City BUCK$ app onto their smart-phones, and scan special QR codes that will be posted in every participating business to earn BUCK$ redeemable for prizes, such as a free cup of coffee from Respite Café or a free concert ticket from Casbah. In addition, all SCANvenger Hunt participants will be entered into daily drawings where they can win gift certificates to Sustain-a-Bull Member Businesses. There will also be a Grand Prize awarded to the SCANvenger Hunt participant that scans the most codes during this event, including a one-night stay at the Morehead Manor Bed & Breakfast and a signed copy of Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen.  Get more information about this event, including a full list of discounts and promotions  online.

Shop Independent Durham for the Holidays

Support Durham and give locally-owned businesses the gift of your patronage this holiday season. The Bull City is home to a number of one-of-a-kind boutiques and shops stocked with unique finds and local products. These shops contribute to Durham's unique sense of place.  Sustain-a-Bull Durham's Shop Independent Durham Week has begun and will run through the weekend. Get in the spirit and head to Durham's Brightleaf and Ninth Street shopping districts or any of the Bull City's galleries, antique and collectibles shops, and specialty gift shops!

The "shop local" mantra is far more than a message of community boosterism. A number of researchers in recent years have taken a look at the impact of keeping money circulating in the local economy. One study by the Michigan State University Center for Community and Economic Development found that for every $100 spent at a local business, $73 stayed in the local economy as compared to $43 when the purchase was made at a non-local store. Even modest changes in consumer spending can have substantial impact on local economies.

For a closer look at local shopping, check out this video featuring many of Durham's one-of-a-kind shops.

Shop Local for Durham's Sake

In a time when most cities continue to suffer from the economic downturn, Durham businesses continue to grow at an enviable pace. One way to ensure that this trend in economic growth continues is to shop local.

The "shop local" mantra is far more than a message of community boosterism. A number of researchers in recent years have taken a look at the impact of keeping money circulating in the local economy. One study by the Michigan State University Center for Community and Economic Development found that for every $100 spent at a local business, $73 stayed in the local economy as compared to $43 when the purchase was made at a non-local store. Even modest changes in consumer spending can have substantial impact on local economies.

Durham is home to a number of one-of-a-kind boutiques and shops stocked with unique finds and local products. These shops keep Durham different and contribute dramatically to Durham's unique sense of place.  Sustain-a-Bull Durham's Shop Independent Durham Week continues through the weekend. The following is one Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau staffer's contribution to the local economy.

The following items were found within a mile radius of Downtown Durham for under $50:

1. Hello!Lucky Wrapping Paper, Parker & Otis
2. Handmade Gift Tag, Magpie Boutique
3. Assorted Nifty Buttons, Parker & Otis
4. NC Made Toffee, Parker & Otis
5. Mandarin Shea Butter Soap, Parker & Otis
6. Matchbook Post-it Notes, Parker & Otis
7. TokyoMilk Honeycomb Parfum, Magpie Boutique
8. Hand-pressed Durham Notecard, Shed Letterpress
9. Burt’s Bees Pomegranate Lip Balm, various retail locations

Buy It to Eat t!...In Durham.

Even those with little social interaction or minimal consumption of media know that Durham is one of the nation's most vibrant food communities.  With dozens of chef/owner-driven restaurants from mobile operators to classic interpretations to concept properties, there's a whole lot going here.  Durham is not a place of hubris, but suffice it to say that there really is a little bit of most every kind of food available here.  Diversity is a well-earned local brand value, and with 77 different countries represented in the public school system it is not undeserved.

A natural pattern of market growth is playing out here, as the population is demanding more of retailers to provide them more of the ingredients they seek to create the dishes they are having in great local restaurants and about which they read in some of Durham's exciting food blogs.  After all, Durham's Farmers' Market is competing to be labeled America's favorite, The New York Times listed Durham as one of 41 places in the world to visit in 2011 largely on account of the local food scene, and chef's move here to open restaurants.  So naturally, retail was bound to follow.

Enter Reliable Cheese Company, the newest food retailer in Durham.  In case it's unclear, this place is largely a cheese shop.  Owner operator Patrick Coleff was attracted to Durham precisely because of the large and growing base of educated food consumers who either live or work here.  To shop in his store, that is filled both with product and the whispers of what more is to come soon as additional goods fill the shelves, cases and walls, is to feel that he is in this place deliberately.  He knows his product, loves what he does and is rather well, it seems, enamored of the people for whom he has opened his store.

Durham is also home other great specialty food retailers.  The list is considerable, but would be incomplete without mentioning the following:

Foster's Market - Formerly a chef for Martha Stewart, owner Sara Foster opened this landmark specialty food store with prepared foods, baked goods, gourmet grocery, wine, beer and candy.  It remains a staple for Durham visitors and locals alike.

Li Ming's Global Mart - A mecca for Asian specialty foods including live fish, an enormous produce section, significant groceries and housewares, as well as some typical domestic goods commonly found in regular grocery stores.

Tienda La Superior - The Latin American equivalent to Li Ming's with butchers, freshly made tortillas and grocery shelves stocked to the hilt with all manner of traditional south of the border specialty items.

Parker and Otis - Epic selection of candy, some specialty non-perishable grocery, beer, wine, prepared food, cheeses, housewares, coffee and tea.  That, and it's named in part for a dog, so how can that be bad?

Wine Authorities - largely a wine shop, this store also stocks bacon, bread, cheese, chocolates, coffee, olives, and sausages. They source locally that which they can.

Durham vehemently supports local business as a means to strengthen the local economy and keep Durham's celebrated independent businesses thriving. Local business advocacy organization Sustain-a-Bull hosts a bi-yearly event to promote the value and importance of supporting independent local business. Shop Independent Durham Week is coming up on July 3-10. For information on Shop Independent Durham Week, visit Sustain-a-Bull's website.