LINCOLN SQUARE — Lincoln Square shoppers spent big at small businesses this past holiday season.
Results released Monday by the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce show that spending by participants in the "Unwrap" shop-local campaign doubled in 2013 over 2012.
The Unwrap program required shoppers to submit receipts totaling at least $300 from a minimum of three stores collected between Nov. 23 and Dec. 24.
"We saw receipt totals as high as $4,336.39 with an average spent by all participants at $406.35," Rudy Flores, the chamber's executive director, said in a statement.
In all, 188 people turned in receipts, up from 103 in 2012. Total spending topped $76,000, up from $38,000 the previous year.
Timeless Toys tallied the greatest amount spent, followed by Merz Apothecary, Enjoy, Fleet Feet, The Book Cellar, Gene's Sausage Shop, Old Town School of Folk Music, Planet Access, The Chopping Block and Marbles.
When the campaign was announced in November, organizers said the first 150 participants who met the receipt requirements would be rewarded with a $50 gift certificate to a neighborhood restaurant.
