Lapeer DDA pilots ‘Downtown Dollars’ gift program with 22 participating businesses

Lapeer City Downtown Development Authority board members discussed and endorsed a pilot of a local gift-certificate program called Downtown Dollars, which the DDA will reimburse to participating merchants and test this weekend at the CEC conference.

Board members said the program — modeled on older “chamber bucks” programs — already has 22 participating downtown businesses and will be run like cash: merchants collect certificates, submit them to the DDA, and are reimbursed.

The program’s backers said it is intended to encourage downtown shopping and keep spending local. “We could do this here and we could call it, Downtown Dollars,” said Board member 3, describing the idea’s origins and how similar programs have worked in other communities. A second board member clarified how merchants will process the certificates: they will “just collect them … run in same as cash, and then hold on to them, turn them into us, and we reimburse.”

Board members also described an expected financial benefit to the DDA from so-called breakage — certificates that are sold but never redeemed. One board member referenced industry estimates that 20–25 percent of similar gift certificates go unredeemed; the board did not produce a formal revenue projection for Lapeer’s pilot.

The board said the business development committee plans to roll the program out more broadly for the holidays if the pilot is successful. The pilot will be managed by the business development committee and tested this weekend at the CEC conference; no formal ordinance, contract, or budget amendment was enacted during the meeting.

Next steps: the committee will monitor merchant redemptions during the pilot, report results to the full DDA, and consider a holiday rollout if the test shows demand.