This fall, incoming freshmen were greeted by frozen yogurt, camping supplies and buffalo wings.
New students received special discounts at participating Evanston stores, such as frozen yogurt shop 38 Degrees, Uncle Dan’s, Buffalo Wild Wings and Borders, in addition to a directory of downtown businesses in their welcome packets.
The giveaways are spreading the word and bringing many students to their store, said Michael Seperghan, co-owner of 38 Degrees.
“We wanted to get involved because Northwestern is a key part of the Evanston community,” co-owner Roma Nazarians said. “This was a great way to introduce them to our store and provide a more healthful option for desserts.”
Nazarians and Seperghan said they will continue to arrange special discounts for NU students. Like other Evanston businesses, they consider NU an important part of their customer base.
Uncle Dan’s not only provided gear for Project Wildcat, a backpacking and hiking program for new students before Wildcat Welcome, but also provided backpacks for Peer Advisers and offered a special 20 percent discount to all incoming freshmen. The store has a 10 percent discount for all NU students and staff year-round, which has drawn students to the store often, said marketing director Sara Grissinger.
This is not the first time Evanston businesses have partnered with NU to provide special offers for students. Downtown Evanston, an organization providing marketing and management services to downtown business owners, has an ongoing partnership with NU’s Office of Community Relations, said Laura Folkl, marketing and communications manager of the group.
Downtown Evanston encourages businesses to form partnerships with NU in ways such as participating in the WildCARD discount program to become better acquainted with the Northwestern community, an integral part of Evanston consumers, Folkl said. Apart from allowing students to sample food from restaurants during Big Bite Night in October, local businesses are also planning another retail event similar to last year’s Census shopping event organized by NU and Downtown Evanston.
“The restaurants and the businesses are always willing to participate to try to better acquaint themselves with the Northwestern community,” Folkl said. “There will definitely be a focus on trying to bring together the Northwestern community and the downtown business community.
Once the initial relationship has been established between student groups and businesses, it is easy to continue, said Oliver Williams, PWild co-chair. PWild makes special bulk orders to Uncle Dan’s when preparing equipment for their trips, and it is common for counselors to apply for jobs at Uncle Dan’s, the McCormick junior said. The partnership has brought business to the store and made planning easy for PWild organizers.
“It’s definitely made it convenient because they’re so close and it’s really easy to deal with them,” Williams said. “You can just go up and talk to them.”
Although the partnership between Uncle Dan’s and the University has been beneficial, University officials could make partnerships easier for businesses by providing a centralized office to contact, Grissinger said.
“It’s not unusual in marketing to run across that sort of thing, but there’s a common goal for the university and the students and the retailers and we live in the same environment,” Grissinger said. “We want the environment to be successful.”
