Downtown shoppers can earn 5% back through an app starting Nov. 1 in a six-month pilot

Shopping, eating or catching a show in downtown Denison will come with a small rebate for the next six months.

Starting Sunday, Nov. 1, a Denison Development Alliance pilot will return 5% of what customers spend at retail, dining and entertainment businesses in the city's historic downtown district, KTEN and KXII reported this week. Shoppers claim the money through the Open Rewards app.

How it works

Customers download the app, make a purchase downtown and then upload the receipt in the app to collect the reward, according to Tiffany Barney-Harolds, the alliance's vice president of business development.

"Anyone can participate," she told KXII, so the offer is not limited to Denison residents.

Barney-Harolds told KTEN that participating businesses can keep their existing checkout systems. All a shop has to do is hand the customer a receipt.

Key dates

• Nov. 1: the pilot begins.
• Nov. 28 and Jan. 30: both Saturdays, when app users can earn 10% back instead of 5%, KTEN reported.
• April 1: the six-month pilot ends.
• May 1: the last day to redeem rewards.

KTEN said the alliance hopes the program will bring more attention to downtown's small businesses.

Neither station reported how much the alliance is spending on the pilot, whether there is a cap on how much one shopper can earn, or how many downtown businesses are expected to qualify. A list of participating stores was not included in either report.

The program arrives as downtown adds new projects, including a three-story building with a restaurant, gallery and lofts that broke ground on West Main Street on Friday.

Sources

KTEN

KXII