By: Mary Genson | Birmingham-Bloomfield Eagle | Published July 27, 2022
BIRMINGHAM — In the 1970s a few businesses in downtown Birmingham decided to initiate a “Night on the Town” event as a way to clear out summer merchandise.
Its popularity with the community has led it to expand into “Day on the Town,” a daylong event with street closures for sales, activities and food vendors.
“Day on the Town is a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase the downtown and its businesses to thousands from all over the region who visit Birmingham to shop, dine and participate in the day’s events,” Birmingham Shopping District Public Relation Specialist Erika Bassett said.
The event will take place 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, July 30, in downtown Birmingham.
“Shops and restaurants enjoy increased sales and foot traffic while shoppers enjoy browsing for unique and deeply discounted retail displays that line the streets and sidewalks throughout the downtown area,” Bassett said.
A range of retailers from downtown Birmingham will be participating in the event. Customers can shop sales on clothing, jewelry, furniture and personal care items.
Richard Astrein, of Astrein’s Creative Jewelers, is one of the business owners who helped initiate this annual event.
“The intent, and really the people that benefit the most, are the clothing stores,” Astrein said.
High-end merchandise will go on sale up to 70% off in the streets of Birmingham during Day on the Town from clothing retailers such as Anthropologie, Cicchini, Craig Ryan Fine Menswear and much more.
Astrein said that decades ago, a majority of downtown consisted of clothing retailers, but he said the mix of storefronts downtown has greatly changed throughout the years.
Among the several participating furniture stores are Scandia Home, The Italian Dish and West Elm. Jewelry retailers such as Crimson Rose Antiques, Barbara Boz Boutique and Majda Diamond Vault will also be present at Day on the Town.
Day on the Town is especially beneficial to the Birmingham Shopping District’s newest businesses, such as Sweet Greens, Skin House and Zahra.
“It creates a high-visibility atmosphere for all businesses, and is especially important for new businesses to increase brand awareness, providing a venue to promote their products and services to a large regional audience,” Bassett said.
The increased foot traffic is the main benefit of this event for all businesses downtown because it gathers people into the city to eat and shop. As people shop sales, there will be additional fun provided by the BSD. Food trucks will be selling a variety of treats during the event. Aruba Freeze will be serving its ice cream made with organic cream and a specialty nitrogen freezing process. There will also be food trucks selling carnival-style treats such as funnel cakes, popcorn and hot dogs.
Various activities for families and kids will be part of the event as well. There will be street closures during the Day on the Town. Old Woodward Avenue will be closed to vehicles from Willits Street to Brown Street, and Maple Road will be closed from Bates Street to Peabody Street to accommodate retail displays and pedestrian traffic. Parking will be available for free at downtown meters and municipal structures.