We have a traditional bricks and mortar store and recently launched a
website.  The site is ecommerce capable but we also want to use the
site to entice people who live some reasonable driving distance away
to take a daytrip (or half a day trip) to visit the store.  As it
happens we are in a town with a lot to offer daytrippers -- museums,
movies, theatres, shopping, restaurants, sports, etc -- it is very
much a regional hotspot.  And for whatever reasons there are no
websites, really nothing on the internet about the town.  So we put
together a classy local links page and want to use this page to
interest people to make a daytrip to our town.

Let me make a distinction that our town is not a tourist town.  We
don't get tourists -- we get people who live within 30-60 minutes who
come for one or two features the town has to offer.

Now my question -- I am very interested in finding other websites that
have done the same thing, to learn from their experience.  It is not
an easy thing to search for via traditional search engines.

We are looking for specific examples that compare -- we are only
interested in links to ecommerce websites that also have some aspect
intended to bring people physically to their stores.

Thanks for asking!

I located a baker's dozen online stores that make use of local links,
event calendars, and various attractions to coax customers from the
Web to their local retail businesses.

L.L. Bean - Freeport, ME
Calendar of Events
http://www.llbean.com/shop/retailStores/freeportFlagshipStore/calendar.html
Home - http://www.llbean.com

The Vermont Country Store - Weston and Rockingham, VT
http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/Retail/Calendar_of_Events.asp
Store - http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/navDefault.asp

Exploratorium Store - San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Visitors Resources
http://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/sanfrancisco.html
Store - http://www.exploratoriumstore.com/

Prairie Edge - Rapid City, SD
http://www.prairieedge.com/welcome.html
Dynamic link - select Store Tour / Links from the Main Menu

The Store at Five Corners - Williamstown, MA
Store Map - History - Rebirth - Things to Do
http://www.thestoreatfivecorners.com/map2.htm
Home - http://www.thestoreatfivecorners.com/

The Amish Country Store - Largo, FL
Visit Us at the Amish Country Store
http://members.aol.com/paduchgirl/AmishcountrystoreComevisit.html
Store - http://theamishcountrystore.safeshopper.com/

Greenwood Daylily Gardens - Long Beach, CA
Visit Us
http://greenwooddaylily.com/visitus.htm
Home - http://www.greenwoodaylily.com

The Lighthouse Depot - Wells, ME
Visit Us
http://www.lhdepot.com/visitus.cfm
Store - http://www.lhdepot.com/store.cfm

Vintage Gold Wine Bar and Bottle Shop - Groveland, CA
Groveland
http://www.vintagegold.com/about.html
Store - http://www.vintagegold.com/Holiday.html

Moana Loa Macadamias - Hilo, HI
Outlet Store and Nature Walk
http://www.maunaloa.com/visit.htm
Store - http://www.maunaloa.com/default.asp

Grandpa's Garden Herb and Body Shop - Portland, ME
Drop In Massage Service
http://www.grampasgarden.com/store.htm

Charlotte's Vineyard - Cooperstown, NY
Our Links
http://www.charlottesvineyard.com/links.html
Home - http://www.charlottesvineyard.com/

The Tugboat Store - Portsmouth, NH
Tug Links
http://www.tugboatalley.com/links.htm
Store - http://www.tugboatalley.com/store/index.htm


Additional Links:

Zona Clothes
http://www.zonaclothes.com/links.html

Coffees of Hawaii
http://www.coffeehawaii.com/visitus.html

Mountain Country Store
http://www.mountaincountrystore.com/aboutus.html

PR Web
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2002/5/prweb39552.php


Google search terms:
retailer "calendar of events"
retailer "local links"
retainler "visit us"


I hope you'll find these sites useful in your research. Best of luck
you in your new web enterprise.

= larre-ga =

---

Clarification of Answer by larre-ga on 08 Jul 2002 16:18 PDT

The final search term listing should be:

retailer "visit us"
://www.google.com/search?client=googlet&q=retailer%20%22visit%20us%22

=l=

---

Request for Answer Clarification by joel-ga on 08 Jul 2002 19:10 PDT

This answer was interesting but sites were of little use.  Rereading
my question I could have been more precise and will try to be here.

We are specifically looking for websites that are not targeting
tourists and that offered something beyond themselves to encourage
people from the not-too-distant region to visit.  30-45 minutes drive
- an hour tops.  People looking to kill an afternoon at a museum, an
event, lunch, a little shopping.  So for example sites that list
lodging options would not be of interest, sites in large cities would
not, sites that only talk about themselves would not.  (FYI -the PRWeb
link is us).

It may be an impossible request -- if you think it is too tough I'll
pay for the answer but remove it from the system.

---

Clarification of Answer by larre-ga on 08 Jul 2002 20:26 PDT

Joel,

In the time since I originally posted this answer, I've thought about
the phrasing of your question, and had some further ideas about
finding additional resources for you. It's such a good concept that
I'm nearly positive that it's simply a matter finding a good way of
identifying such sites. I'll rule out 'specific' tourist destinations,
and concentrate on retailers those located in small to medium-sized
cities. I did find several cooperatives, or groups of stores that use
this concept to draw customers from nearby larger cities, but no
singletons, yet. I wanted to let you know I'd seen your clairfication
request, and will happily be working on it for you. It may be there
are no close matches using the additional criteria, however I want to
be very certain of that before crying "uncle".

=l=

---

Clarification of Answer by larre-ga on 10 Jul 2002 16:05 PDT

After several additional searching sessions, it appears that your
concept is rarer than I would expect. Besides a greater number of
'tourist' destinations, I've located several merchants associations
and/or malls in cities of similar sizes and types who've made use of
simple local directories, but those sites do not have an online
commerce component.

I can suggest that you request reposting/refund of the question to
give access to a greater pool of researchers.

=l=

The researcher who was on the case failed to find what I had asked for
and recommended reposting -- so I am.