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Waynesburg shopping promotion targets university students

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WAYNESBURG – Area businesses are trying to bridge the gap between Waynesburg University and downtown with a weeklong shopping event catering to college students, although few kids on campus Friday knew anything about the promotion.

Next week’s “Get To Know Downtown Waynesburg” scavenger hunt was created by the Waynesburg Merchants Guild, a group of several businesses working to entice people to visit local shops.

The event will be held Monday through Friday and encourages university students to grab a map and punch card from one of the participating local businesses before traveling to all of the 22 highlighted shops to get each business to punch the card.

If a student completes the entire punch card, their name gets placed into a grand prize raffle that includes gifts from each business specifically geared toward college students. Each business also is offering its own shopping promotions for customers.

Getting the word out to students, though, has been difficult.

Although pamphlets were handed out with the freshman orientation packets at the university, most students were unaware of the event.

Two seniors said they had no idea some of the businesses on the list were in town and didn’t know about the scavenger hunt. A few freshmen who received the packets two weeks ago did not remember it included the map and the punch card.

Only one of 20 students polled on campus Friday knew about the promotion. Senior psychology major Amanda Hooker said she received information while visiting 5 Kidz Kandy shop and hopes to have enough time to take part.

“I think it is important to support the local businesses and to get to know the town more since students live here, too,” Hooker said. “This scavenger hunt is a great opportunity for students to do so if they haven’t already.”

Many business owners acknowledged the problem with getting students off campus and into the downtown community.

Artbeat owner Linda Winegar said she believes this is because students have many amenities on campus and don’t feel like the local stores will have much to offer them. Winegar, along with her husband, Jim, and 5 Kidz Kandy owners Kristy Vliet and Pansy McConnell are trying to change that by organizing the event.

“They don’t come down into the town because it is a small town, so they don’t realize there are all these things down here,” Winegar said.

Winegar thinks the problem goes further than just students not recognizing everything Waynesburg has to offer.

“A lot of people think Waynesburg is what it was 10 years ago or 20 years ago. They don’t stop when they drive through town,” Winegar said. “They need to stop and look at what is new here, and there are a lot of new things in the last couple of years.”

This summer, three new businesses – Bonnie Bell’s Country Store, The Ivy Green and Purse-N-Ality – opened in Waynesburg. Winegar attributes the increase in businesses to the proximity of the owners’ homes.

“We all live in the community,” Winegar said.

“Why shouldn’t we have things like art, ice cream, antiques and things in our community? Why should we have to go to Washington or Pittsburgh or Morgantown or somewhere else to find those things?”

The owners of 5 Kidz Kandy also said it’s important for students to know all of the shopping opportunities the town has to offer.

“We want them down here,” McConnell said. “We want them to feel welcome in our community and our town and our business area.”

That is the hope for the scavenger hunt. Many different types of businesses are involved and offering their own discounts and prizes to students who come to their stores. Artbeat’s owners will be raffling off their own gift, Purse-N-Ality has a special 20 percent discount for college students and 5 Kidz Kandy will be offering snacks and free samples.

Even the Waynesburg Area Chamber of Commerce and the Greene County Tourism Office are showing their support by being a punch card location.

“We try to support the efforts of anything that goes on in the Waynesburg business community,” chamber Director Melody Longstreth said.

The tourism office staff hopes that while getting their cards punched, students will pick up other information about Waynesburg and the county.

For more information about the event or to get a punch card, go to any of the participating shops or follow the Waynesburg Merchants Guild on Facebook.

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