Shopping mob flashes cash

The call went out, as these things do, via Facebook and Twitter and even that creaky old communication device, email. The message: gather on Saturday at the Sonoma Community Center at noon.

Those who respond to such a call to action are then known as the mob. Not in the ‘grab a torch and let’s storm the castle’ way, but in a friendly, social networky kind of way. The group that showed up Dec. 15 added something new to the mix: spending power.

Janice King and Cynthia Tarr dubbed it a Cash Mob, a flash mob with the goal of going to one Sonoma retailers and shopping like crazy.

“A cash mob, like a flash mob, unites many people in search of fun,” King said. “But rather than meeting to dance, people unite to support a local independent business with strong ties to the community. It is Sonoma citizens celebrating and supporting our great independently owned businesses.”

The group picked Readers’ Books, and down the street it marched.

“We were pleasantly surprised…no, we were wildly astonished at the huge turn out of customers,” said proprietor Andy Weinberger. “Out of nowhere we had fifty people browsing, chatting and snatching up our wares. It was like a capitalist tornado that passed merrily through our portals, and we could not be more grateful.”

Pat Reed — thanks for the photos!