Home & Business Expo offers new benefits and attractions for Chamber members

This September will see the 12th Annual Home & Business Expo taking place at Buena High School.

One of Cochise County’s premier events, the Expo has become a highlight of the business community calendar.

Last year, this event attracted more than 135 participants – a number we expect to increase in 2008.

This year, the Chamber of Commerce is launching a major “Shop Local” campaign, which will initially culminate at the Expo, before continuing through the Holiday season.

The Chamber is proud of the fact that the businesses which participate in the Expo are all members of this organization, whose representatives live and work in this community.

This is where the general public, who attend in their thousands, get the chance to find out what services and products are available on their own doorsteps.

This is where those thousands of potential customers get to talk to local business owners, face-to-face.

The Chamber believes the Home & Business Expo is a superb showcase for businesses operating in the greater Sierra Vista area, offering the best value for money of any marketing outlet in the area.

The cost of registering a booth by August 22 is just $150. In return, vendors get the chance to interface with 3,000 to 5,000 potential customers.

And this year, the Expo will include some added attractions, benefiting both members and the public.

Throughout the summer the Chamber will be advertising its “Shop Local” campaign, which includes the promotion of our new shopping bag.

The recycled and reusable bag will be available to the public for the first time at the Home & Business Expo on Saturday, September 13.

The Chamber is exclusively offering all Expo vendors the chance to promote their businesses, for a nominal cost, via these bags.

For just $50.00, participants can have a coupon placed in approximately 2,500 bags, which will be given away to Expo attendees – and the Chamber will do all the work.

The bags, sponsored by Cox, Fry’s Food and Drug Stores, SSVEC, TransWorld Network, Wi-Power, Horizon Moving Systems, Sierra Vista Herald, Castle & Cooke Arizona Inc., will also encourage attendees to visit each of the vendors.

Each bag will include a “Bingo” card, with numbers corresponding to booths, which members of the public have to have stamped by the vendors.

Completed cards can then be entered into a drawing for a $500 gas card – two drawings will take place, at 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., and you must be present to win.

Cox will also, once again, be offering Expo vendors the chance to place their logos on a large screen, which will run information throughout the day.

This year, this service will be offered free of charge.

Registration forms for the 12th Annual Home & Business Expo, sponsored by the Sierra Vista Herald, Cherry Creek Radio, Cox, Southwest Gas, SSVEC, KKYZ, TransWorld Network, Wi-Power and Horizon Moving Systems, are now available from the Chamber of Commerce.

Every member that registers will receive an Expo poster to display at their place of business.

This eye-catching notice will let your customers know that you will be a vendor at the Expo and that your business supports the “Shop Local” campaign.

For further information call 458-6940 or drop by our offices at 21 E. Wilcox Drive.

* Please note, the cost of a booth increases to $195 from August 23. Electricity and Wireless Internet is also available at an extra cost.