Downtown retailers rally to promote Port Huron restaurants

The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on our community of small businesses.

Not to discount the challenges any small business owner faces, but our bars and restaurants have been hit especially hard, with coronavirus-related restrictions on indoor dining services severely limiting the amount of business one can do.

That’s why Downtown Port Huron has debuted its Good2Go takeout promotion, rewarding patrons of downtown restaurants with the opportunity to win gift cards and certificates from participating retailers.

What’s remarkable about the program is that it wasn’t an idea brought forth by bar and restaurant owners but by their friends and neighbors in the downtown retail community.

“It’s been a collaborative effort,” says Cynthia Cutright, director of Port Huron’s Downtown Development Authority. “It’s especially nice to see because the idea came from the downtown retailers. They themselves haven’t had the easiest 2020 yet they still wanted to help the restaurants.”

Cutright says that the idea for the promotion came by way of private conversations with downtown retailers, small business owners who approached her about wanting to help out their community. The DDA then put it into motion.

It works like this.

Take a photo or selfie with your takeout order from a participating restaurant and post it to Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #downtownporthuron. Tag the restaurant in the post. And make sure that the post is public so Downtown Port Huron can see it.

Winners will be drawn each Friday now through the end of January. Prizes include gift cards and certificates from participating downtown retailers.

“Even though all of our businesses have been hurt by COVID-19, our restaurants especially continue to hurt. And the idea for the promotion actually came from our retailers,” says Cutright.

“With restaurants not able to open their dining rooms yet, we have to try to remember that takeout remains an option.”

Visit Downtown Port Huron online for more information on the Good2Go takeout challenge.

Participating restaurants in the Good2Go takeout challenge

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