Get ready to vote. Our City Council election is just 60 days away. Your Chamber will review all the candidates and endorse the people we feel will best represent the business community.  

        The holiday season will be here before you know it. Remember to “Shop Redlands First”, starting with your Halloween costumes and candy.

        Our Mud Run is “stuck in the mud” because of difficulty in locating a large enough vacant property to hold the event. We plan to have the problem solved very soon so keep your mud runners ready and stay tuned for the announcement of both date and place.

        This is a short message this month but things are happening in the in the next couple of months so until then, keep shopping in Redlands.

President Elect Bachiu announces slate of Directors

            President Elect Daney Bachiu, Redlands Blueprint and Commercial Press, announces slate of Directors for Chamber Board.

            Jennifer Dobbs: University ofRedlands has been asked to continue her service on the Board for another three years. Dobbs has been a model Director volunteering both her time and talent when ever and where ever needed. She devoted two days of cheerful reception to Redlands Chamber LIVE, has acted as the coordinator of the Small Business Committee, has spearheaded the effort to update the Chamber’s outdated computer equipment, serves on the Rise n Shine Committee and assisted in shifting the Chamber’s newsletter from print to e-news taking on the design and technical challenge of tutoring staff. Dobbs is the University’s Chamber’s President’s Circle representative.

            Matt Leeds: Whitefrog Design, will be joining the Board of Directors for a three year term of office. Matt has been instrumental in bringing the Chamber into the tech world by first designing and maintaining the extraordinary interactive Chamber website. He also took on the challenging Redlands Mud Run site and was responsible for the lightening fast logo designs and graphic genius that is helping launch the first time event.Leeds was instrumental in streaming Redlands Chamber Live to a mass audience online and has been the patient tech teacher to Chamber staff.

            Ken Ramirez: San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, steps onto the Board representing the tribe and organization. San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, has long been a supporter of the Redlands Chamber participating in Redlands Chamber LIVE as a major sponsor, and as a President’s Circle Member, Ramirez is a long time Redlands resident and is eager to roll up his sleeves and dig into business end of the organization.

            “I am pleased to present this slate of willing leaders, each committed to the organization and willing to contribute time and talent to lead our Chamber over the next three years.” said Bachiu.

            The organizations’ Bylaws provide for additional nominees by petition signed by 20 members in good standing. Petitions must be filed at the Chamber office fifteen days after public notification, a general election will allow.

          In an effort to encourage customers to Shop Redlands First through the year the Chamber has successfully administered a campaign that has been both fun and fruitful for all the businesses inRedlandsespecially Chamber members.

            Each month the Chamber has offered a prize valued at $100 or more. Shoppers have been encouraged to bring original receipts from Redlands businesses showing purchases of $25 or more to the Chamber office, the date on the receipt reflecting the date of the month of the drawing.  The receipts are signed by the Chamber staff and exchanged for a ticket… the customer fills out address and phone number and the ticket  is placed in a basket to be a part of the month end drawing. If the receipt is from a Chamber member the customer gets two tickets (Chamber members can be found on the Chamber’s website).

            At the end of each month a drawing takes place for the $100 prize and the winner is announced on the Chamber’s website, in an email blast and in the Redlands Quarterly Magazine Chamber page as well as the local press. Shoppers have flocked to the Chamber office each month with receipts vying for gift cards, cash cards, gas cards and more.

            President of the Chamber Paul Barich, Barich & Associates Insurance, who originally brought the idea to the organization, said, “It’s a great program that hopefully makes people stop and think about shopping locally first. It’s important to keep the dollars local, to support our local businesses and to champion the small business owners ofRedlands.”

Why shop local?

1. Protect Local Character and Prosperity

Redlandsis unlike any other city in the world.  By choosing to support locally owned businesses, you help maintainRedlands’ diversity and distinctive flavor.

2. Community Well-Being

Locally owned businesses build strong neighborhoods by sustaining communities, linking neighbors, and by contributing more to local causes.

3. Local Decision Making

Local ownership means that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions.

4. Keeping Dollars in the Local Economy

Your dollars spent in locally-owned businesses have three times the impact on your community. When shopping locally, you simultaneously create jobs, fund more city services through sales tax, invest in neighborhood improvement and promote community development.

5. Job and Wages

Locally owned businesses create jobs.

6. Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship fuelsAmerica’s economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out of low-wage jobs and into the middle class.

7. Public Benefits and Costs

 Local stores in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure and make more efficient use of public services.8. Environmental Sustainability

Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers-which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, and air pollution.

9. Competition

A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.

10. Product Diversity

A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based, not on a national sales plan, but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

           Redlands Auto Plaza, a Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Mazda dealer in Redlands, has a very clear mission – to provide outstanding products and service to our clients, and strive to make every client a raving fan of the dealership.  We have been serving the business community through our retail sales for the past 2 years, and to improve our sales and service we recently appointed Alex Delgado to focus on developing and better serving our business clients.

            Outstanding Selection, Easy Financing with Extended Warranty options, and great trade in or purchase values are important to every customer, but the business customer also demands even higher levels of professionalism and knowledge to meet their business transportation needs.  Our Chrysler Business Link franchise offers many unique advantages to commercial clients including additional benefits such as additional rebates, no cost maintenance programs, commercial graphics installation allowances, and specialized equipment upfits.

            Please contact Alex Delgado at (909) 793-2141, or on his cell at (951) 852-8430 to discuss your business transportation needs; he will be your advocate for all your cars, trucks, SUV’s or even specialized service or parts requirements. 

           Redlands Auto Plaza is located at500 W. Redlands Blvd,Redlands,CA