‘Shop Marlboro Day’ scheduled for May 22

MARLBORO — Keep your spending dollars in Marlboro to help keep local businesses blooming. That is the message that members of the Marlboro Economic Development Committee (EDC) are stressing to residents of the community.

A “shop Marlboro” idea has been around for a while, but to officially kick off the campaign township officials and local business owners are coming together for a “Shop Marlboro Day” promotion on May 22.

Mayor Jonathan Hornik and Deputy Mayor Larry Rosen introduced the event during the Feb. 4 meeting of the Township Council. They described “Shop Marlboro Day” as a day when participating merchants will offer sales and deals to put the focus on goods that are available in town.

“We are very excited about this,” Rosen said of the campaign.

Hornik said the goal of the EDC is to increase the number of commercial ratables in Marlboro. Doing so, he said, will decrease the municipality’s reliance on residential property taxes.

At the present time 93 percent of local property taxes are paid by residents and 7 percent of local property taxes are paid by businesses, according to the mayor.

Hosting a day that is dedicated to established businesses in the community is a way to show existing and potential companies the commitment that Marlboro has for them, the mayor said.

Hornik said he hopes the May 22 promotion will also attract shoppers from neighboring towns.

A letter was sent out to the more than 800 businesses currently in Marlboro. The correspondence invites a representative of each business to attend a special breakfast meeting to discuss how “Shop Marlboro Day” will work.

Rosen said the goal of the promotion is to make Marlboro residents more aware of the range of services that are available in town so that they keep their spending dollars in the municipality.

If people show a commitment to businesses in Marlboro, Rosen said the hope is that established merchants will be more likely to renew their lease and to highly recommend the area to people who may be thinking about bringing a new business to the community.