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.
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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.