Thousands of shoppers will converge on northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin once again for the fall edition of the popular Vintage Shop Hop™ on Friday and Saturday, October 4 & 5, 2024. The event is a self-guided road trip for vintage and antique lovers in the northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin region to satisfy their ‘vintage’ addiction and support small business at the same time. Typically, between 350 to 400 locally owned vintage shops, antique malls, women’s boutiques, occasional and pop-up shops, home décor stores, upscale consignment shops and vintage barn sales in the two-state region participate in this one-of-a-kind event.

     What started with 180 shops ten years ago, the Vintage Shop Hop has increased in popularity with each event. “The past four years in the retail world have been difficult for brick-and-mortar stores, especially small businesses. These shop owners sometimes need an economic shot in the arm to boost their sales in what is traditionally slow retail season, not to mention the competition of the online shopping craze,” says Ann Campos, founder of the event. “This event gives shoppers a reason to leave the house to ‘shop small and shop local’”.  The idea came to Campos over a decade ago after talking with a handful of shop owners in her town who had experienced slow sales during the then harsh winter. “After spending several years producing large vintage markets, I decided to marry my love of vintage decor with my background in tourism promotion, event planning and marketing to come up with a way to reach out and do something for local small business” Campos said, “the result is the Vintage Shop Hop.” The event is only open to locally owned, for-profit shops. There are no big box stores, franchises or chain stores allowed. Social media has played a huge role in the rapid growth of the shopping extravaganza.  “The event was destined to grow quickly.  Between the shop owners looking for a unique, low-cost way to promote not only their shop but their town too, and shoppers who are excited to have a list of hundreds of fun shops dropped in their lap. The result? You can’t hold them back!” Campos laughed. The two-state event has grown organically over the past eleven years and now stretches from the Mississippi River on the west to Lake Michigan on the east, goes north to the Wausau and Green Bay in Wisconsin and south to I-80 in Illinois.

               Each shop is required to have an “in-store” promotion for the weekend, and many shops go miles beyond just complimentary refreshments (like mimosas and dessert treats). “We encourage the shops to create a day unlike the other 363 days of the year,” says Campos. As a result, shoppers will find fun promotions like “pop a balloon” or “spin the wheel” to determine their discount, door prizes, meet-the-maker, paint demos, live music, food trucks and free swag bags just for stopping in. Others create punch cards promotions to get people moving around their region, hire live music and invite food trucks to park in their lots. All shops will be ready and waiting to greet new faces to their store and provide the shoppers with the best in customer service.   “The participating shop owners are very passionate about the history of their antiques as well as their buildings. In order to compete with big box stores, small business owners have to be creative in their marketing efforts and work extra hard to get noticed,” Campos said. “I’m just happy I can help them out by using my experience to bring customers to their doorstep with this fun shopping event. To my knowledge, it’s the biggest event of its kind in the Midwest.” Many of the shops are set in historic and unique buildings, in downtowns, villages, and the countryside brimming with history which sets them apart from their competitors in big shopping malls.  Shoppers will find stores located inside century-old barns, historic schoolhouses, banks and churches all making the shopping experience memorable. Store owners who are interested in participating just need to send a private message on the event Facebook page. “This event is an affordable way for small shops to take part in a large-scale marketing event”, says Campos.

     For shoppers, the road trip planning for the Vintage Shop Hop is made easy with an interactive Google Map and Master List of Shops. The Google Map includes all shop details that can be accessed on mobile devices while shoppers are traveling the area.