The Village Welcomes Valentine's Day

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, a new campaign aims to get shoppers to show some love for Greenwich Village businesses. 

The event called “Valentine for the Village” was started by Assemblywoman Deborah Glick in an effort to help the local economy.  Lauren Danziger, Executive Director of the local Chamber of Commerce said the neighborhood’s economy has been hurting and many small shops have closed since St. Vincent’s Hospital was shuttered last April. Danziger said many of the local shops depended on the foot traffic from the hospital, and that foot traffic hasn’t been replaced.

Danziger said “The store’s local independent retailers and the shop owners make the character of the village and if you want an area to remain a certain way, you have to show that with the dollar.”  Under the campaign, shoppers will receive a raffle ticket for every ten dollars they spend in local stores and will be entered to win prizes.  The first one-hundred shoppers to bring their receipts to the LGBT Community Center will also take home a free “I Love the Village T-Shirt.”