L.B. Chamber's Restaurant Week kicks off Oct. 10

The Long Beach Chamber of Commerce is gearing up for its annual Restaurant Week event, which kicks off on Friday, Oct. 10.

The semiannual event runs through Oct. 25 and is designed to support local businesses through the offseason and promote dining and shopping on the barrier island. It will coincide with the chamber’s second annual Merchant’s Week, which runs from Oct. 14 to 18.

Merchant’s Week will offer shoppers discounts, gifts and raffle prizes to encourage them to hit Park Avenue and the other business districts. The week will culminate in a shopping crawl that offers patrons the chance to win prizes based on the amount of businesses they’ve shopped at.

Chamber President Mark Tannenbaum said that the two events will work in tandem to attract patrons to Long Beach outside of the normal May to September busy season, and continue what officials called a record-breaking summer for the city.

“People who are coming in to eat in the restaurants are going to be able to stroll around the town and go shopping at the same time,” Tannenbaum said.

With more than 20 restaurants from around town participating, Restaurant Week promises a taste of the eclectic array of eateries in the city. Each business will offer prix fixe menus of $21.95 that Tannenbaum said could encourage patrons to eat at a restaurant they’ve never tried before. A full list of participating restaurants and the special menus they’ll be offering can be found on the chamber website.

Additionally, a second Restaurant Week is held every spring to help businesses before and after the tougher winter months. The semiannual event is much longer than a typical Restaurant Week promotion, Tannenbaum said, because in Long Beach it runs for two weeks and three weekends.

Merchant’s Week, meanwhile, highlights the wide variety of boutiques and shops in the city, running for five days later in the month. There will be extended late-night shopping hours on Friday and Saturday, with free extended trolley service provided by the city on Saturday and Sunday from the east business district to the West End, Tannenbaum said.

The event will culminate in a shopping crawl on Oct. 17 and 18 in which patrons have the chance to get credit and raffle points by shopping at the over 20 participating merchants. Customers can go into any participating business to pick up a bracelet and a map. Along the crawl they will receive discounts, free gifts with a purchase and other specials, and the more shops they visit, the more entries they will receive into the raffle.

Capping off the event on Sunday there will be a customer appreciation cocktail party at the Saloon, where gift baskets filled with items donated by local merchants will be raffled off.

For more information, visit www.thelongbeachchamber.com.