Posts Tagged ‘Shopping’
Shop the Hat Logo
In the efforts to keep consumer’s shopping locally, TriCube Media has launched a new service today entitled “Shop the Hat”. Shop the Hat is a premier business directory website that focuses on local shopping and retail. It features a surprising amount of other information as well including an event list and calendar, contests, an article section and printable coupons (for some businesses). The best free services on site include ability for user-uploaded events, user-submitted articles and the Shop the Hat twitter account which features a feed of all the local deals and commerce going on around the city.
As most of you know, I currently work at TriCube Media, so I posted this at the risk of sounding bias. You should also know, I’m not going to post anything on the site under my name unless I endorse it on a personal level – which is the case for Shop the Hat. I’m all about local websites providing a good service for business owners and shoppers alike. We will be adding more and more over the upcoming months including more events, more articles, more businesses, adding more pictures and more information about those businesses. I think it will be an constantly evolving project.
The site is actually a re-make of an older TriCube Media website entitled “MH Gift Guide” which did some of the same things; however, it became apparent we needed a more targeted and community-driven version of it, a lot like the rebuild of the Medicine Hat Menus from its previous version.
HotTubX-Press.com just came out with a new website showcasing their huge selection of hot tubs. They also offer a line of tanning beds, saunas and gazebos, and if that was not enough, they are also the exclusive dealer in Medicine Hat for Softubs.
Behind the website and in the store is the owner, Eldon Wells; a well-known name in Medicine Hat, and a friendly guy to boot. If you are looking for a hot tub, sauna, tanning bed or gazebo, be sure to check out Hot Tub X-Press, their collection of over twenty different kinds of tubs alone sets them above the crowd.
1027 South Railway St. SE
Website no longer online.
EverythingEco Logo
*Updated*
EverythingEco is no longer Medicine Hat based – they now are based out of Calgary; however, that shouldn’t stop locals from ordering from the site.
EverythingEco is a Medicine Hat based shopping website dedicated to selling environmentally friendly items. They have a large variety of manufacturers and items. You can shop for anything from sweet recycle-made handbags to natural cleaning and body products. I’m a big fan of the Haversack bags made from recycled inner bike tubes and seat-belts.
Stephen & Kim Platt are two dedicated eco-friendly people that manage and stock the site personally. They even write some articles and eco-friendly tips on the site from time to time. The best part about EverythingEco is they deliver within the Medicine Hat area for free!
I think the site and service is a really good idea, especially here in Medicine Hat since there isn’t many stores like this in Medicine Hat. I think a lot of people in Medicine Hat are too traditional and behind in the times in terms of internet and internet-based purchases. Hopefully more online stores like this start popping up in Medicine Hat so people will begin to come to embrace the internet and home/community/personal/local businesses like EverythingEco.
My Favourite - The Haversack Bag (Photo by Stephen Platt)
Supposedly sales were down everywhere this holiday season; however, I did not see any evidence of this myself in Medicine hat. I made the stupid mistake of going to get a few items from Superstore on the day before Christmas Eve… how stupid of me. There was literally no parking spots, I should of taken that as a warning. You know how you often wonder why there is such large parking lots outside of stores when they are normally only half full at maximum anyways? Apparently they are just for the few days before and after Christmas. I entered the mosh-pit-like environment as soon as I stepped through the doors. This place was packed and the line ups were half way down the aisles themselves. This wasn’t an isolated incident either, supposedly the malls were packed and Walmart… well I won’t even begin to imagine what that place would be like. Supposedly this situation doubled itself on Boxing Day where shoppers were reported to have spent 10 hours waiting overnight in line outside Visions to get a new TV in one case.
Imagery via blogtalkradio.com
I did notice the sales though, Boxing Day is no longer a day, and now not even a week, in some cases in a few weeks or full month of sales. And normally the deals aren’t that great either, but this year 75%-90% off signs were littered everywhere. And these sales even started before Boxing Day, they started weeks before Christmas in some cases. For example, the Medicine Hat Mall had two Moonlight Madness events this year. Obviously this is a marketing tactic to get people to buy at Christmas in the wake of the Canadian recession. I think it probably worked on some level locally in Medicine Hat, but I think overall, we are a little too dramatic about the recession thing in Medicine Hat and other smaller towns. I cant wager a guess at what will happen next year though, depending how much deeper we have dug ourselves. Business’s have been reporting that they did just as well last year in terms sales (on Boxing Day), and maybe even better.
Ken Gousseau, Medicine Hat News Reporter, has reported about this here.