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Taking an often-dreaded winter chore—shoveling snow—David Strano turned it into a fun way to connect with customers by hosting a snow shoveling contest. Strano, the general manager of Ambridge Do It Best Home Center in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, saw a similar event taking place at a Christmas buying show and thought it would be a fun addition to his store.
“Seeing it done in person at the Christmas buying shows we attended sparked my interest in doing something like this in store,” Strano says.
Strano hosted the event on a Saturday in February and was pleased with the turnout for the contest. Participants could choose from several snow shovels and had to fill four 5-gallon buckets as quickly as possible with artificially made snow.
The first-place finisher for the snow shoveling contest won with a time of 28 seconds and went home with a $50 gift card and trophy. The second and third-place finishers also earned store gift cards and a trophy.
“I was hoping to bring in some foot traffic on the slow winter days we have,” Strano says. “I was also hoping to reach a new audience that has never shopped with us before and did my diligence in advertising in the paper, social media, email blasts and more. Overall it was a great event.”
See what other retailers are doing in their stores to engage with customers and the community by checking out our other Checkouts stories.
