The Holidays are here and businesses on Miami Beach are looking for the Shopper! Small business is the backbone of our economy and Miami Beach is no exception to that rule. The Miami Beach Chamber is supporting Small Business Saturday — the day after Black Friday and before Cyber Monday. It’s a day dedicated to helping support the small businesses that help to create jobs, boost the economy and preserve our neighborhoods around the country. Patronize our shops, our chamber businesses and the small independents. Miami Beach has been an incubator for businesses that have launched into franchises, branches and multiple locations. This is the test ground. For Business, the song goes – ‘if you can make it on Miami Beach, you can make it anywhere’. Our visitors provide a measure of what the international market will bear. Our locals bring some grounding to that consumer market and the staycationers give a domestic regional perspective.
I meet people from all around the country and the world every day. The sentiments are always the same; visitors now see Miami Beach and South Florida not only as a tourist destination and a weekend of fun, but a place to do the best shopping around. Lincoln Road is the new home of H&M, Forever 21, American Apparel, but yet also has the high value of Mayors, The Vault, and Juvia Occasionally, shoppers come straight from the beach in bikini’s and cover-ups to frequent Surf Style, Alvin’s Alley and The Frieze Ice Cream Factory. Where else in the world can you get that kind of mix of shoppers?
Let’s not forget where it all started – 41st Street. If you haven’t eaten on this historic street, you have missed a big part of Miami Beach. Eclectic eateries from a deli delight at Roasters and Toasters, Schakolad Chocolate Factory, Café Avanti, and the House of Dog – yes, Hot Dogs of a gourmet variety.
I would be remiss in mentioning the Fashion District on South Collins, with all the big designers. Kenneth Cole, Tommy Hilfiger, Mango, Zara and Nine West, just to name a few of the names on the shopping bags that I see in the hands of visitors having a drink and dinner on Ocean Drive.
As for Chamber excitement, we are growing every day! We focus on supporting our business members in every way possible, and that measure of success comes when a member brings in someone new. Growing the numbers of these businesses sharing their resources, supporting each other is the best way to work the Chamber. Welcome to all of our newest members. You are in for a great ride! And if you haven’t yet joined, I challenge you to come to an event, to learn more about the amazing benefits and possibilities and to experience the power of membership!
At your service,
Alan A. Lips
