Our Daily Show Interview! Honeybee Vintage Ready for Fall in Love With Downtown on 9-13!
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ALTON - Riverbend residents are invited to downtown Alton for a day of shopping this weekend.
Hosted by Alton Main Street, the “Fall in Love with Downtown Alton” event invites community members to shop local small businesses on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. Melissa Bland, owner of Honeybee Vintage, shared that the event aims to increase collaboration between downtown businesses while inviting community members to explore the shops.
“I’m here today to invite everybody in our community to come downtown to Alton to shop your small brick-and-mortar shops tomorrow during regular business hours all day. Just drop in,” Bland said. “As long as it’s clear and sunny, people should have a good time. Just pick a place to park and go for a stroll.”
Honeybee Vintage, Strangelovely, Persnickety by Jen Farley, Party on Broadway, Uncle Jeff’s T-Shirts, Coco+Oak, Funky Planet Toys and Gifts, Elysian Gallery, Mooneyham Art Gallery, Picture This and More, NSIDE the BOX, Country Meadows Antiques, Alton Music Exchange, Jacoby Fine Violins, and Tinner’s Anvil are the participating businesses.
All of the businesses will have “sips, sweets, sales and specials,” said Bland. Most will offer discounts or treats for shoppers to enjoy. Bland also noted that the goal is to “celebrate the change of seasons,” so many of the businesses will be showcasing their new fall items.
She shared that the downtown business owners often direct customers to each other’s shops. She thinks this collaboration goes a long way to make everybody successful and promote the downtown shopping district.
“We’re hoping that a coordinated collaboration like this will draw people downtown to enjoy their favorite shops, but also to discover some new ones,” she explained. “Friendships and a sense of colleagueship has always existed among downtown shop owners, but it’s really starting to form, I think, in a new way, and really looping in some of the newer shops as well.”
Bland added that brick-and-mortar stores are “the heart and soul of our community,” and she looks forward to welcoming new and familiar faces to her store on Sept. 13. For more information about the “Fall in Love with Downtown Alton” shopping event, visit the official Facebook event page.
