The mob gathers in parking lots, on street corners and in front of municipal offices. They form a diverse group - college kids, young professionals, townies, peacoats, hoodies and leather jackets. They use social media to coordinate their movements, always recruiting people to join their cause. At a designated time they move en masse down the street, singling out a local business with one purpose in mind.
Spend.
Cash mobs are springing up all over the place - 32 states and Canada at last count - with large gatherings in Los Angeles, Denver, Cleveland and Boston.
The brainchild of Buffalo blogger and engineer
Chris Smith, cash mobs have been called everything from a reverse Groupon to a spending flash mob. The idea is to choose a small, local business and descend on it with a mass of people at a prescribed time, providing a swift mob of spending. Following the spree, spenders retire to a predetermined watering hole - also a local business - to talk about their purchases, meet new people and celebrate.
For small local businesses, the influx of capitol can be huge, especially during off seasons. For businesses that do $250 or less per day, a mob of people can multiply a day's take 10-fold.
It's a supercharged, targeted Buy Local movement and the idea has caught fire in Michigan.
Early this year, Paul Hickman established the
Ann Arbor Cash Mob after friend and owner/editor of the Ann Arbor Chronicle, Mary Morgan asked him if he'd be interested in starting an Ann Arbor Cash Mob. Did he think it could work?
"I don't know," Hickman replied. "Let's find out."
Hickman has a long history of organizing community events from the Art and Design Junto to his Salon in Process, a gathering of art and music lovers in his home featuring live music and a gallery space.
Hickman's first step was to create a Facebook page for Ann Arbor Cash Mob and wait to see what would happen. "We hadn't even picked any businesses out," Hickman says.
Within 72 hours the page had more than 100 likes. The Ann Arbor Cash Mob had begun.
"We have a pretty diverse group," says Hickman. "The first few people that liked the page were my friends but it quickly spread to people I didn't know."
The first local business the Cash Mob chose was
Acme Mercantile. Hickman contacted owner Nina Juergens to see if she'd be willing to serve as the Cash Mob's first test business.
"I hadn't heard of the Cash Mob but all they asked was that we promote it to raise awareness, so it seemed like a no-brainer," says Juergens.
Acme emailed its client base and used social media to get the message out and one Tuesday in January from 7-8 p.m. the mob descended on Acme Mercantile to work its magic.
"January is the slowest time of the year for us," says Juergens. "Not a lot of people come through the door. I would say that 15 or 20 of the sales in that hour were from Cash Mob participants and we definitely quadrupled our sales for the day. It had a nice impact for us."
The overall impact is difficult to track. Participating businesses usually offer a discount to Cash Mobbers, but many don't take advantage of it or fail to identify themselves as being part of the Cash Mob to ensure that 100% of their dollar goes to the business. "The Cash Mob is probably responsible for an extra 20% on top of what businesses can accurately report," says Hickman.
"For a retailer it was a great thing," says Juergens. "There's a sense of urgency to it. Think Local First raises awareness in general but it doesn't target specifically like Cash Mob does. Think Local First is great but Cash Mob is a tangible thing. People see the results. Cash Mob means dollars in the cash register."
The successful mob at Acme Mercantile was followed by a trip to local watering hole the
Old Town Tavern. The impact on watering holes is even harder to gauge, but the post-Cash Mob gatherings are a nice way to meet likeminded people and support another local business.
The Ann Arbor Cash Mob moved on to its second business a week later, local fine wine and specialt
y food retailer Morgan & York. The mob descended at 1 p.m. and a second mob shopped at 7 p.m., heading to nearby
Fraser's Pub following the spree. In the following days, Morgan & York reported 15 mobbers in the store recording an average sale of $25, delivering $375 on a Tuesday in January - not a bad haul.
Ann Arbor's Cash Mob sparked a similar movement in the Motor City. After seeing a Facebook post about the Ann Arbor Cash Mob from Ann Arbor chef Eve Aronoff, Dave Lewinski (former photographer for this magazine and current photographer for
Metromode.com) made the split-second decision to start a Detroit chapter.
"It took a few days to figure out how we should do it, but Detroit Cash Mob got popular pretty fast," says Lewinski.
Hickman offered support and experience, which Lewinski was happy to accept. The Detroit Cash Mob has held more daylong events than flash mob-style invasions like Ann Arbor Cash Mob. The first Detroit Cash Mob had roughly 90 people show up at a local business and the cash mob has settled into an every-two-weeks schedule, which appears to be the sweet spot for Detroit.
"The challenge we're running into is that sometimes people can't make it out, even if it's an all-day event," says Lewinski.
Hickman is ironing out some of the same details. Ann Arbor Cash Mob has experimented with different days of the week, times of day and has tried their own day-long event. "The challenge is to get people to come out," says Hickman. "We know it's the right thing to do and we're trying different ways to get people to buy local."
Cash Mob's impact has gone beyond the businesses who've benefited so far. A local bank reached out to Hickman to sponsor the Cash Mob but it didn't seem right.
"We appreciated the offer but as soon as soon as there was any type of sponsorship it changes the whole concept of the community doing this on their own," says Hickman. "The best way anyone can help is to spread the word."
Hickman was also interviewed in February by
Headline News about the Cash Mob phenomenon.
With Saturday, March 24 designated as National Cash Mob Day, the Ann Arbor chapter has targeted longtime Ann Arbor businesses
Encore Records and
Jerusalem Garden. The mob plans to meet at 10:50 a.m. in front of the post office on Liberty and proceed to Jerusalem Garden for brunch, then march to Encore between noon and 12:30 p.m. to buy local.
"We should be doing this every single day, not once a month," says Hickman. "How you spend your dollars really impacts your community."
With this being the seventh cash mob in Ann Arbor so far, Hickman is hopeful that his efforts continue to show results. "I'm going to do this as long as I can," says Hickman. "I'll do it if 10, 12, 20 people do it. As long as I can keep it up, I'll be there."
Richard Retyi is the social media manager at Ann Arbor digital marketing firm Fluency Media as well as a freelance writer for various publications. His musical credentials begin and end with dating a cellist in a local folk band for three months. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichRetyi or read his blog at RichRetyi.com.
All photos by Doug Coombe
Photos:
Paul Hickman at Acme Mercantile
Paul Hickman at Acme Mercantile
Tommy York at Morgan & York
Tommy York at Morgan & York
Morgan & York
Morgan & York
Nina Juergens at Acme Mercantile
Nina Juergens at Acme Mercantile