A group of small business owners in Haddonfield are assuring their customers that they do not plan to go anywhere.
After seeing success in St. Louis’s “Here for Good” campaign, King’s Road Brewery owner Bob Hochgertel got permission to bring it to New Jersey and launched “
Haddonfield Here for Good” – an awareness campaign and T-shirt sale to raise money for small businesses.
“What are the smaller shops that don’t have delivery or don’t offer a product like that – what are they going to do?” Hochgertel says on the inspiration for his idea.
The businesses can put their logos on the T-shirts and receive $10 for each one sold.
“In the first five days we raised $10,000,” Hochgertel says.
The British Chip Shop is participating in the campaign, while also figuring out a new way to operate by offering takeout.
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“Overnight it was pretty much, ‘Hey, look. We’ve got to adapt, improvise and hopefully overcome,'” says Ian Whitfield with the British Chip Shop.
Haddonfield Here for Good has raised $17,000 since launching with 60 businesses participating in T-shirt sales.
“A few thousand dollars per business could be the difference of that next month’s rent for sure,” Hochgertel says.
And the owners say that they are hopeful that the support will continue once the pandemic restrictions are lifted.
“Seeing it as deserted almost as it seems now is dire and I’m very worried about even when we start relaxing some of the measures that are in place at the moment if all the people are going to come back,” Whitfield says.
Haddonfield Here for Good will hold a
livestream event on Saturday to bring awareness to the campaign. They will be highlighting the different businesses in town.