Downtown merchants tie in with city-wide promotions

Already 50 members strong, the Carson City downtown merchants association, newly formed in December, is laying plans to lure shoppers into the redevelopment district with tie-ins to a dozen events.

And, it's already designed a map to direct tourists to area merchants and to the allimportant parking lots.

The group has named its territory "Old Town." At its January meeting, association members stepped forward to adopt planning for a variety of weekend event tie-ins.

Valentines Day is the first, when merchants will run a full-page group ad in the Nevada Appeal newspaper to tell shoppers about sweetheart gift sales and free chocolates.

Then comes Mardi Gras,Wild West Tour, Carson Rendezvous,Nevada Day, Ghost Walk, Silver Dollar Car Classic, Street Vibrations spin off, the all-important Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday season, and more.

The group said yes to an offer made by Carson City employees Joe McCarthy and Robin Williamson to bring in a small business merchandiser to present a seminar on how to lure people into their stores.

The Carson Nugget provides free meeting space for the group's monthly meetings.

"It's a numbers game," says Mike Beck, general manager at Cactus Jack's."If we as a group can get people downtown we will all benefit."