M&T Bank Spotlights Greater Baltimore Small Businesses in Virtual Spotlight Shop
BALTIMORE, Md.; Sept. 25, 2020 — M&T Bank is featuring more than a dozen of its Baltimore-area small-business clients on an online retail shop designed to lure new and existing customers to the businesses’ websites during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bank’s virtual Spotlight Shop is a pandemic-inspired adaptation of the physical retail space M&T sponsored in downtown Baltimore last year. The modular shop was located on Pratt Street in the city’s Inner Harbor between June and November 2019 and featured 12 local retailers rotating through the shop every two weeks.
This year, the virtual Spotlight Shop will be available to customers throughout the fall and showcase many of M&T’s small-business clients – several of them minority- or women-owned businesses. Nine retailers that participated in the Spotlight Shop last year – including Boordy Vineyard, Charm City Run, the Charmery, and Dollhouse Boutique – have returned to the virtual shop this year.
“Local, small businesses are what make our communities feel like home,” said Eleni Monios, group vice president and business banking marketing manager for M&T Bank in Greater Baltimore. “Our goal with the virtual Spotlight Shop is to connect these businesses with audiences and customers they might not have been exposed to otherwise, so they can continue to grow during these challenging times.”
The virtual Spotlight Shop will feature a new business each week and host live-streamed concerts and events to encourage users to browse businesses’ websites. Other local businesses participating virtually in the Spotlight Shop include:
● Becket Hitch
● Cake by Jason
● Dangerously Delicious Pies
● Diasporo Salon
● Ekiben
● Fashion Spa House
● Hersh’s
● Maryland SPCA
● Mouth Party Caramel
● Third Eye Comics
● White Paw Run Mitts
● Cake by Jason
● Dangerously Delicious Pies
● Diasporo Salon
● Ekiben
● Fashion Spa House
● Hersh’s
● Maryland SPCA
● Mouth Party Caramel
● Third Eye Comics
● White Paw Run Mitts
The shop’s retailers will continuously update throughout the fall, and visitors can support the businesses by making online purchases.
M&T’s virtual Spotlight Shop is another way the region’s top bank for small-business lending is supporting entrepreneurs and small-business owners. Earlier this year, the bank approved more than 6,600 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in the Baltimore area for $1.2 billion. The majority of those loans, which supported over 135,000 jobs, went to businesses with 50 or fewer employees.
Learn more about the virtual Spotlight Shop by visiting mtb.com/spotlightshop or following @mandt_spotlight on Instagram.
About M&T Bank
M&T Bank Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. M&T’s principal banking subsidiary, M&T Bank, operates banking offices in New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Trust-related services are provided by M&T’s Wilmington Trust-affiliated companies and by M&T Bank.
M&T Bank Corporation is a financial holding company headquartered in Buffalo, New York. M&T’s principal banking subsidiary, M&T Bank, operates banking offices in New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Trust-related services are provided by M&T’s Wilmington Trust-affiliated companies and by M&T Bank.
© 2020 M&T Bank. Member FDIC.