Murrysville chiropractor looks into ways small businesses can cross-promote each other
Mandy Zimmerman of Murrysville has closed her business, Sports Performance and Spine, amid the coronavirus epidemic. That’s left her with plenty of time to think about ways struggling small-business owners can help support one another, as well as generate customers.
“I went to the Olive Merchant store and bought a gift certificate through their curbside pickup,” said Zimmerman, who is also an ownership partner with Crossfit Tantrum in Murrysville. “I told Elaine, the owner, that I would promote her store on my social media, and let people know that if they called her to place an order, they could get a $5 discount using my gift certificate.”
Olive Merchant owner Elaine Schweikarth thought it was a great idea.
“She’d heard about someone in Colorado doing it,” Schweikarth said. “I think it’s incredibly generous.”
Zimmerman is the third generation of small-business owners in her family: Her grandfather had a beer distributorship, and her mother operated Zimmerman Stone & Supply in Allegheny Township.
“My whole initiative was for other businesses to jump in, generate traffic, and we can sort of all keep each other afloat,” she said.
The concept of a “gift certificate discount” took a little explaining at first.
“I reached out to the Moonlight Inn in Vandergrift, as well as Leone Animal Supply in Murrysville,” she said.
At the Murrysville Economic and Community Development Corp., Executive Director Khrystal Ferri has had quite an eventful two months in her new position.
“I spent the past week going through our MeetMurrysville.com website, figuring out who is still open and trying to let people know,” Ferri said.
The information at MeetMurrysville.com is also available through MECDC’s free MeetMurrysville app.
Ferri said Zimmerman’s idea is excellent.
“I love it, and we’d love to be a part of it,” she said.
“Anything I could do while I had all this free time to continue to support my small businesses and others that are in the same boat, I wanted to do.”
To participate in Zimmerman’s cross-promotional efforts, contact her at drmandydc@gmail.com.
For more on the MeetMurrysville app button, see MeetMurrysville.com/download.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.