Borough Beeswax: Buzzing About Promoting Collingswood Businesses

In Patch's , owners were divided about the scope of promotional efforts to attract shoppers to the  Collings Avenue theater and Route 130 business improvement districts. Borough Beeswax sought out popular sentiment on the comparative impact of marketing efforts by Collingswood Partners in both regions.

Asked if he were familiar with any Collingswood businesses along Collings Avenue, Dom Palladino of Haddon Township said, “I would have to say no.

“I couldn’t tell you one store down there,” Palladino said, adding that he believed “most of the focus [of borough-related advertising] is on Haddon Avenue.”

Morgan Robinson of disagrees with the position that the municipality should be so responsible for promoting its businesses. Resources provided by the borough are helpful to local businesses, she said, but retailers must work concertedly, not exclusively, with them.

“I don’t know what the borough is supposed to do for my business,” she said. “Part of my business plan was to not [rely on] the borough to do my marketing.”

Robinson said that a restaurant like , which is situated on Collings Avenue, has “like a two-month wait” because of its cachet, which is owed largely to “a giant chef from Philadelphia” (Joey Baldino).

Robinson added that although it seems presently fashionable to complain about the borough leadership, business owners might ask their neighbors for advice.

“Who’s popular?” Robinson said. “. Why not go talk to Connie and Bill? I get tired of people talking bad about the borough.”

TJ Harper of East Wayne Terrace suggested that the borough might have an easier time promoting Haddon Avenue businesses because the latter is “more centralized” and the former “more offset.” The only Collings Avenue business with which he is familiar is , “but that’s just from driving by,” he said.

Michele Pardun of Audubon is similarly familiar with IndeBlue, but said her general impression was, “I don’t think there’s much down that way.”

“There’s businesses down there?” quipped Keren Lloret of Haddon Heights. “I guess I knew they were there.”

Lloret said she believes Haddon Avenue is better for foot traffic and shopping than Collings Avenue, and “just seems more approachable” because “they dress it up with trees and lights.”

“The White Horse Pike?” Lloret asked. “130? Somebody’s going to walk across 130?”