Come Join Us
...for an hour of socializing while doing a good deed
for a small business in your community!
Local retail businesses are getting unexpected support and recognition from home-based entrepreneurs. During the first few years of business operation, overhead is high and money is tight. New businesses seldom have funds available for publicity. Here's where The Grapevine steps in to help. Once a month we choose a Victoria business as "best of the bunch" and take a delegation of 15-25 people to visit the store, surprising the proprietor with a big bouquet of purple balloons and deserved recognition.
By accepting our invitation, you will visit a new business that's likely within its first year of operation. Following a brief presentation, you'll enjoy socializing, shopping and networking. Occasionally you'll share a light breakfast or lunch with like-minded people and you'll always expand your knowledge of local products and services.
The Grapevine visits a broad variety of shops that deserve heightened awareness. Sometimes they're hidden in unexpected locations. Sometimes they're gems offering unique items. Often they're family operated businesses. But they all offer something special. Although the chosen businesses are usually new, occasionally we find stores, bakeries, cafes or delis that have been in existence longer than a year but are hidden treasures that deserve more recognition.
"Graping" is a feel-good, win/win event that starts your Saturday morning off with high-energy fun and leaves you with a smile on your face. We hope our choices will impress you enough to pass your enthusiasm on to others, thereby "passing the word down the grapevine". After all, word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising!
Am I eligible to join?
Grapevine participants at The Superior Cafe,
January 2006. (Photo credit: Kelly Hewkin)
If you're reading this, you're eligible.Many of our 400 members are business owners, but many more are not. Often people are new to the city and find Grapevine events are a great place to make new friends and become more familiar with their adopted locale.
Meeting Place
Approximately one week before our scheduled event we will send you an email invitation that provides a date (usually the first Saturday of the month) and a meeting place only. What's that – no store address?
Nope, we never divulge our destination because the
secret and subsequent surprise is half the fun!
At the designated meeting place, we draw for a prize, usually a $25 gift certificate donated by a previously "graped" business. Because founders aren't eligible (sob), that gives you an amazing 11-21 chance of winning!
Then, as a group, we walk a short distance to the unsuspecting business. If you're a few minutes late and we've already left, don't despair. We post a small sign at the meeting place to tell you the name and address of our destination so you can catch up.
And if you aren't able to attend the "graping", we'll tell you all about it in an email report.
Get in the Spirit
Help us to pass the word by posting your invitation and the subsequent report on your office bulletin board or at your neighbourhood coffee shop or laundromat. Everyone is welcome, so bring your friends, family, and co-workers! Just be sure to RSVP and let us know how many will be in your party as group size may be limited by a shop's space (just imagine our problem if all 400 members decided to attend in the same month)! Also, in case of a last-minute change we'll know who to advise so you don't show up at the wrong place.
Cost
Here's the best part: It's free! You're just responsible for your own purchases or meals.