‘Cash Mobs’ Unite to Shop Small, Local

Across the country, so-called "cash mobs" that come together on Facebook or Twitter are heading to small businesses en masse to help prop up their local economies.

Image: SVLuma / Shutterstock

Here’s an offer that most small, independent retailers would find hard to refuse: a visit from one of a growing number of “cash mobs,” organized by consumers who use social media to drive business to a select small business.

The Wall Street Journal, which published a story about the phenomenon today, reports that 15 strangers who found each other on Facebook and became enthralled with the idea of buying at local stores converged on an Oakland, California, gift boutique Marion & Rose’s Workshop last Tuesday to spend money as a group and to support the local shop.

Similar cash mobs have sprung up in more than 20 cities from Norman, Oklahoma, to Muskegon, Michigan, with most arranged by people who establish followings on Facebook and Twitter. The Journal says there are hundreds of devotees of such cash mobs and that the cash-mob organizers don't get any benefit in return.

If the grassroots effort catches on, it could be a boost for small retailers, which were also the focus of Small Business Saturday, an effort led by sponsor American Express that was designed to drive shoppers to local stores over Thanksgiving weekend.