Oct 9, 2007

Downtown merchants try to sell through gift cardsBy Matthew GruchowArgusLeader.com

For the first time, downtown merchants will have a gift card designed specifically for them, which they hope will draw more shoppers to downtown businesses.

The new gift card program began last week, and it can be used at participating downtown restaurants or retailers. Customers can purchase the cards in amounts from $10 to $500 at the Main Street Sioux Falls office on Phillips Avenue.

Gift cards have become more popular with shoppers than the gift certificates downtown merchants have had in the past, said Daniel Statema, executive director of Main Street Sioux Falls, which operates the gift card program.

“We’ve tried to do gift certificates in the past, but it was not real user-friendly,” he said. “So this was a maturing process on our part as well.”

The program should be popular, said Juanita Larson, owner of Home Porch/Gift Baskets By Design.

“We were using gift certificates, and that just got outdated,” she said. “People just don’t use those as much as gift cards.”

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