We’re all familiar with getting a plethora of junk mail offers after a recent move — local telecoms vying for our Internet service, a nearby dentist hoping we need a root canal, that sort of thing — but New Rochelle has just launched a program that recent relocators will actually want to take note of: a discount card tailor-made to highlight the best and most trusted businesses downtown NewRo has to offer.
The Downtown Resident Card is now available to all new residents of New Rochelle’s downtown area, and is good for 60 days from the date of move-in. More than 50 featured businesses are already included in the program, from entertainment spots like A Game Sports, CrossFit Pop, the Mahlstedt Gallery, and FunFuzion to eateries like Beechmont Tavern, Joey’s Cannoli, and Mikey Dubb’s, as well as retail shops like Enchanted Flowers and Lumia Decorators and service industry companies like Allstate, Ground Floor Coworking, and Lash Out Loud.
Thanks to its handy page on IdeallyNewRochelle.com, residents can scroll through a full list of participating businesses and view them all or by category in an interactive map of New Rochelle’s downtown region. This gives newcomers a better sense of the city and its businesses, yes, but also allows them to plan their exploratory shopping trips with the help of the city’s all-electric free shuttle service CircuitNR that launched just last month.
“The specific idea of discounts for new residents came from a long-time New Rochellian by the name of Jason Silverman,” says Mayor Noam Bramson. “He said, ‘You know, it would be a good idea to provide new residents with coupons for local businesses.’ We all thought that was a terrific idea that ultimately evolved into the discount card.”
New Rochelle had already been curating a list of featured businesses when the discount card idea came about, so when it came time to select local companies for the discount program, the first batch was a no-brainer, Bramson says.
“It made the most sense to take this preexisting group of businesses that have already been vetted and make those the entities for which folks will be eligible for savings,” he says. “It’s two separate tracks that are coming together with this initiative.”
Fifty-one different groups are on the featured businesses list as of press time, with more expected to sign up in the coming months.
“We hope that this will be a means of introducing new residents to our excellent businesses and restaurants so that their buying power will support our local economy,” Bramson says.
