CONTRIBUTED BY THE
ALABAMA PRESS ASSOCIATION
ALABAMA —
Bama in a Box (BamainaBox.com), an online retailer based in Troy, Alabama, has launched a holiday shopping campaign to encourage Alabamians to keep their holiday shopping dollars in Alabama while simultaneously supporting small businesses across the state.
Bama in a Box was launched during the pandemic as a way to give consumers exposure to quality-made products while giving Alabama small businesses, many of whom lacked marketing budgets, exposure to new customers. Now, Bama in a Box wants to take that same “Shop Local” mentality that was their focus during the forced pandemic closures and make it a top of mind issue for Christmas shoppers.
“The majority of almost every household’s gifting budget is spent during the Christmas season,”explained Angi Horn, owner of Bama in a Box. “By choosing to buy your Christmas presents at Alabama-owned businesses instead of spending them with large national and international companies means that Alabama businesses benefit from your holiday purchases instead of companies based out of state or out of the country.”
Bama in a Box tries to make the process of holiday shopping in Alabama as easy as possible by curating a large line of specialty gift boxes which are comprised completely of Alabama-made products. These boxes are designed to be able to fill nearly every need on most Christmas shopping lists, and every included item is an Alabama-made item from an Alabama-owned business.
“Every specialty gift box that Bama in a Box has for Christmas represents five to seven Alabama small businesses,” Horn said. “With each gift, you are giving your money to Alabama entrepreneurs across the state and you are keeping your tax dollars in Alabama to help our schools, our hospitals and our roads instead of sending them out of state where you see no benefit from them.
“We are trying to make it easy to shop Alabama by creating a one-stop shop, but we just want everyone to buy from Alabama-owned businesses,” Horn said. “If they buy from us, great. If they buy from a different Alabama-owned company, that is great too. Just buy Alabama.”
ABOUT BAMA IN A BOX
Bama in a Box was born from the frustration caused by the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020. As a small business owner, Angi Horn understood firsthand how hard the pandemic regulations were on small businesses. As a consumer, she realized how difficult it was to find products that were made in America and even harder to find those that were made in Alabama.
After some research, she found that more than 500 high-quality products that most people use regularly are produced right here in Alabama. After a conversation with her associate, Laney Kelley, she realized that Alabama small businesses needed a more convenient way to get their products in front of potential customers and that people needed more convenient access to products made in Alabama.
Thus, Bama in a Box was born.