The meeting last night to discuss the holiday “Shop Ypsi” campaign went pretty well. About a dozen people came out to Cafe Luwak to share their ideas. And, by the end of it, I think we’d come up with a pretty good plan… We’re going to create and distribute a small, two-color brochure that basically has three components. First, it will contain some language as to why it’s important for our community to have a thriving local business community. (In this section we’ll also promote our online campaign to get people to accept the “Buy Local for the Holidays” challenge.) Second, there will be a categorized list highlighting some of our local retail establishments. And, third, there will be a list of “25 Cool and Unique Gifts” you can find in Ypsilanti… And that’s the part that I’m going to need your help with.

If you know of something cool, interesting, or unique that can be found in one of our local stores, please leave a comment. For instance, not too long ago, I bought some nice, little brass bells at the Co-op that I gave as gifts. People might not normally think of the Co-op as a place to buy gifts, but they’ve got some really interesting stuff. Or, how about a bottle of wine from our local U-Brew store, a loaf of sourdough bread from the River Street Bakery, and some organic mozzarella from the Co-op? Or, for that matter, how about a piñata from Dos Hermanos filled with Bazooka gum and candy necklaces from Gordon’s Five and Dime? Or an “I’m Saving Up to Clone My Cat” piggy bank from The Rocket?

Just leave us a note and let us know what you’ve found and liked in Ypsi, and we’ll consider it for the list. When we’re done, we hope to have a list that really demonstrates the wide diversity represented in our city’s shops, and maybe illustrates its quirky nature of at the same time. The plan would be to distribute these not only through the neighborhood associations and the usual Ypsi channels, but in Ann Arbor and the surrounding townships as well. We want, as someone mentioned last night, people to think of Ypsi when they’ve got someone on their Christmas list that they just don’t know what to buy for.

With any luck, Linette and I will have a mockup here for you to comment on by Monday. If all goes according to plan, we might even be able to take the job to the printer by Thanksgiving.

[Special thanks to all those who helped last night. I would especially like to thank Jim from Café Luwak, who offered to build the website for us, Linette, who is volunteering do to all of the design work, Katy who will be handling photography, and Lisa from Think Local First and Gary Clark, both of whom offered to assist with the funding. Clearly a lot of folks are dedicated to seeing this happen, and that makes it a lot of fun.]