When it comes to shopping local, Yelp doesn't mess around. Every year, Yelpers around the world take the plegde to shop locally for the holidays, keeping their hard-earned dough close to home and supporting the small businesses that color our local landscape.
To help make the Yelp Shops Local pledge even easier for Bay Area shoppers, Yelp East Bay hosted the "Nifty Under $50 Holiday Pop-Up", a one-stop shopping mart for all things local, handmade, and uber-giftable. With nearly 50 top-rated retailers, local designers, indie artists, and
purveyors of gourmet giftables to peruse, leaving empty-handed was not an
option. Jaydee B shares, "there was something for everyone. Adult/kid, pet/human, drink/food,
ladies/gents, creative/practical, alcohol/non-alcohol drinker,
soap-user/non-soap-user." Always happy to help with wish list domination!
Acting as an off-line Etsy, Nifty Under $50 filled all corners of the David Brower Center with giftable wares such as swanky fabric slap
bracelets, quirky stationery, vintage jewelry, handmade luminaries,
locally-grown clothing from Oaklandish, Show + Tell, and ModCloth, along
with an entire section dedicated to locally-made gourmet goods like
boozy marshmallows, wine-infused truffles, fruit elixirs, homemade salsa
and jams, and more. In Ruobin W's shopping bag, "bacon caramel corn from Chunky Pig…probably
the best bacon dessert I've ever put in my mouth. Sugar Knife's
marshmallows were delicious
too, and Tea Here Now had really refreshing and warming tea."
To reward local shoppers, Yelp offered the Local Love Lounge, complete with cocktails from Crispin Cider, Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur, Art In The Age spirits, Ale Industries beer. Peet's Coffee & Tea provided a cozy warm beverage bar, alongside the Yelp Elite Cookie contest, festive photobooth from Snap Yourself and retro holiday music videos on the big screen. "Shopping, drinking, and cookies?!" Shaunte J squeals, "this may be the perfect
trifecta! Of course yelp had their hand in this. This was without a doubt the
best shopping event I've ever been to and the perfect jump start to the holiday
shopping season."
When the sun went down, the cookies turned into crumbs, and the Yelp totes were filled will nifty finds, it was time to wrap-up. But not without whispers of next year's pop-up from Daphne B: "I'm so appreciative of the yelp team for having this event, I hope they
have it again for many years to come. Everyone in my party went home
shop happy."
Check out the full vendor list here, and more event photos on our Flickr page.
Happy gifting, Yelp elves!
East Bay Community Manager