Mrs. Eliteflyer and I went out for a walk this evening along Kingston Avenue to celebrate Small Business Saturday and support some of the businesses in our neighborhood. We had 22 cards to swipe a total of $550 on.
We first dropped into
Sushi Spot where we dropped $100 on 4 cards. There was not much of a line. The manager seemed happy and the cashiers working the counter seemed excited to activate their first gift cards. Each swipe had to produce a separate gift card, so we left with 4 hard plastic $25 gift cards with no expiration.
We walked down Kingston (skipping
Kol Tuv because we have had too many negative experiences with terrible customer service particularly with respect to the enforcement of credit card minimums over the years) and dropped into
Hamafitz. They were geared up for the SBS holiday with 4 people working the registers that kept the steady flow of customers moving quite nicely. We are in need of new mezuzos and decided to spring for a $250 gift card to finance that purchase. Upon completing our transaction the cashier who rang us up excitedly announced to his friends that their gift cards can take 10 credit card swipes for $250.
Hamafitz definitely did a good job marketing this both on Dansdeals as well as with a sign posted prominently at the entrance to the store regarding SBS. I'm sure that contributed to the large turnout they had tonight.
We then dropped into
Ebbers (wine and liquors) and purchased a $50 gift certificate. That is a paper certificate that expires 2 years from date of purchase. Also, he insisted on charging us tax for the gift certificate
so the total cost there was about $54. The manager promised that they would remember not to charge us tax when we come back to use the gift certificate.
Then it was off to
Sweet Expressions where we purchased a $50 gift certificate. I was not in the store when the Mrs. picked it up, but I see that this paper certificate expires in 3 months
. She bought us ice cream on gift certificate tonight, and we should have no problem using it up by February 24, but I do wonder whether the expiration date put on there was a mistake.
Finally we visited
Basil Pizza and Wine Bar, which was mobbed as they usually are on Saturday nights and spent $75 on a gift certificate (that supposedly must be used in one visit according to it's T&C and can not be used towards the tip) and used a 4th amex card to buy some Wild Mushroom and Margarita Pizza for $39.40.
In retrospect, I probably would have skipped Basil, Ebbers, and Sweet Expressions. Their gift certificates are not that flexible and in the case of Basil, it was a long wait in a chaotic restaurant just to order take-out and some gift cards.
Thanks Amex for the shopping spree. This is the first time we were home to enjoy it locally.
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