Vintage Shop Hop
Thousands of shoppers will converge on northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin once again for the fall edition of the popular Vintage Shop Hop™ on Friday and Saturday, October 7 & 8, 2022. The event is a self-guided road trip for vintage and antique lovers in the northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin region to satisfy their ‘vintage’ addiction and support small businesses at the same time. Typically, between 350 to 400 locally owned vintage shops, antique malls, women’s boutiques, occasional and pop-up shops, home décor, upscale consignment shops, and vintage barn sales in the two-state region participate in this one-of-a-kind event.The event was destined to grow quickly. Between the shop owners looking for a unique, low-cost way to promote not only their shop but their town too, and then add in shoppers who are excited to have a list of hundreds of fun shops dropped in their lap, you can’t hold them back!” laughed Ann Campos, founder of the event. The event stretches across two states from the Mississippi Riveron the west to Lake Michigan on the east, goes north to Stevens Point & Green Bay in Wisconsin, and south to I-80 in Illinois.Each shop has an “in-store” promotion for the weekend, and many shops go miles beyond just complimentary refreshments (like mimosas and dessert treats). “We encourage the shops to create a day unlike the other 363 days of the year,” say Campos. As a result, shoppers will find fun promotions like “pop a balloon” or “spin the wheel” to determine their discount, door prizes, meet-the-maker, paint demos, live music, food trucks, and free swag bags just for stopping in. Others create punch card promotions to get people moving around their region, hire live music and invite food trucks to park in their lots. All shops will be ready and waiting to greet new faces to their store and provide the shoppers with the best in customer service. “The participating shop owners are very passionate about the history of their antiques as well as their buildings. In order to compete with big box stores, small business owners have to be creative in their marketing efforts and work extra hard to get noticed,” Campos said. “I’m just happy I can help them out by using my experience to bring customers to their doorstep with this fun shopping event. To my knowledge, it’s the biggest event of its kind in the Midwest.” Many of the shops are set in historic and unique buildings, in downtowns, villages, and the countryside brimming with history which sets them apart from their competitors in big shopping malls. For example, shoppers who step into Vintique Junque in Monroe, Wisconsin can find a sweet shop filled with antiques, vintage, recycled goods, and fun junk housed in a historic 1880s coal store that supplied the downtown square with coal. Or shoppers can experience ‘out of the box' shopping for on-trend vintage items and home décor inside a gorgeous 1882 Methodist church, complete with steeple, at The Half Full Nest in West Dundee, Illinois. Or, explore Starline Excursion Market in Harvard, Illinois tucked inside a renovated, ivy-covered farm equipment factory built in 1888. These are just a few examples of shops located inside unique structures making the shopping experience memorable.Road trip planning for the Vintage Shop Hop is made easy with the interactive Google Map and Master List of Shops. The Google Map includes all shop details that can be accessed on mobile devices while shoppers are traveling the area. The list and map are both found on the event’s blog page 24/7/365 and can be printed off www.vintageshophop.blogspot.com or follow the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/VintageShopHopEvent. A direct link to the interactive Google Map is here: https://bit.ly/VintageShopHopMap_Oct2022
