Paid to shop? Local community offering incentive for shopping locally after construction woes

BELLBROOK — City leaders in Bellbrook said construction meant to revitalize the area is actually hurting small businesses.

So in the meantime, they’ve decided to offer people an incentive to shop locally.

This summer, crews started doing work on the bridge on Franklin Street.

It’s reduced to one lane right now which means only so many cars can go through at a time.

City Councilman Ernie Havens said the project is supposed to make the bridge safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

As that work continues, he said some local businesses are seeing fewer customers.

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Businesses like Dot’s Market.

“It’s costing us about 100 customers a day to 1000 customers per week, on average. So it’s it’s definitely slowed business down quite a bit,” Nich Moshos, owner of Dot’s Market said.

Moshos said he appreciates the customers that do come in at all but he can’t wait to see more customers return once the construction project is finished.

Another way the city is hoping to get customers to come back is through the “Shop Local Bellbrook” incentive program.

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Any Bellbrook water customer who shops locally and can show proof of purchase will get a $10 rebate for their next water bill.

This is also open to people who live in Sugarcreek Township and are served by Bellbrok for their residential water.

The hope is to incentivize people to support local as those businesses wait for construction products to wrap up.

“We want them to be around, we want them to stay long term. And every, every minute counts, especially when you’re a small business,” Havens said.

The program runs until Sept. 30.

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