By Kevin Brady, Times Correspondent
Friday, August 10, 2012
BRANDON — The Brandon business community is buying into cash mobs.
It's a simple concept: a group descends on a small business ready to spend at least $20 per person. In most cases, the business being mobbed has little or no warning that 20 to 30 customers will set their registers ringing.
Think economic stimulus package on a micro scale.
The first recognized cash mob was in Buffalo, N.Y., last August. A year later, thanks largely to social media, the concept is a nationwide phenomenon, according to Cashmob.com, which tracks the events.
Other Florida cities have had one or two cash mobs, but Tampa Bay has hosted nearly 20, including six in Brandon.
Grow Brandon, a nonprofit business group with 220 members that promotes buying local, organized Brandon's first cash mob in May.
"It brought in customers who ...