Along Street: Shop Local gets a holiday boost

As the official start of the holiday shopping season nears, the News-Register’s “Shop Local Advantage” program — with 100 participating local businesses — is getting an extra boost in print editions of today’s newspaper.

A special poster insert in today’s print edition promotes the Shop Local theme and displays the names of all 100 businesses currently featured in the NewsRegister.com website directory. The directory is accessible through the “Shop Local” button that appears near top-right on Page 1 of the website, along with buttons linking to classified ads, Homefinder real estate listings and other Marketplace services.

Thanks to some high-tech tinkering, each participating business will be prominently and individually displayed on a portion of today’s posters. All businesses are listed on one side, but the front may trumpet Golden Valley Brewery & Restaurant to one reader, while a neighbor’s copy features the Grain Station Brew Works, or any of the other businesses.

N-R subscribers will receive a black and white poster inserted in their paper, while stores will get a larger, color edition featuring their own names on the front.

News-Register Publisher Jeb Bladine said the printing project required links to a spreadsheet with more than 7,000 lines of text, allowing a digital printing press to automatically switch from one participating business to the next on the run.

Small Business Saturday promotes Shop Local ideas

The post-Thanksgiving weekend traditionally represents the busiest shopping time of the year, including the much publicized Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Local shoppers, however, should remember the nationwide promotion called Small Business Saturday, which was launched a few years ago by American Express. It’s set for Saturday, Nov. 28.

The campaign encourages consumers to shop at local “brick and mortar” businesses — a mantra that the News-Register has promoted for decades. This year a group of independent downtown McMinnville businesses have produced a “Passport” promotion giving extra values to local shoppers. More information on those offerings is available in advertising displays in today’s issue and the upcoming Friday issue.

“Supporting local businesses is important to our local economy, our community institutions and care agencies, and to our overall quality of life,” said N-R Publisher Jeb Bladine. “We always emphasize this during the holiday season because so many retailers depend on seasonal sales, but the ‘Shop Local Advantage’ is a year-round idea for supporting local providers of goods and services who are year-round supporters of our community.”

NewsRegister.com goes free for the long holiday weekend

Newsregister.com will be open to all readers, beginning 5 p.m. Wednesday, and will remain available free of charge until 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov.  29.

“Many community members use our website for the non-subscriber services,” said News-Register Editor Ossie Bladine. “We hope they will spend time reading the stories and searching a story archive dating back to 1999, and realize that a subscription, which costs less per week than a cup of coffee, is worth it.”

Usually, much content on the website is protected behind a paywall. It is free to print subscribers, and available to people willing to pay for online-only subscriptions beginning at $2 for a day. All those restrictions are being lifted this week in connection with the Shop Local promotion.

The News-Register launched a new web design earlier this year, partly to provide a better user experience on mobile platforms. Its online platform placed third in the website category of the National Newspaper Association’s 2015 Better Newspaper Contest.

For more information, visit www.newsregister.com/subscribe.