Every month, the Cash Mob of West Pasco County converges on a small business with cash-in-hand and an important purpose in mind: Shopping! And they do. With passion and for a cause we love: to promote the idea of shopping at a locally owned small business.

Photo above (via Facebook): The Cash Mob of West Pasco County at Lovely Ladies Retail Shop

The cash mob concept is like any other type of social media-enabled flash mob intended to gather a group of people at one place, at the same time, for a specific purpose. While flash mobs are known for gathering singers, dancers or actors, a cash mob gathers together to support one small business, and to raise awareness of the importance for people to shop local.

“Not everybody even knows they are there,” Debbie Dawson of Cash Mob of West Pasco County, told BayNews8.com in Tampa. “Just because you own a business it doesn’t mean your doors are going to flood open.” Debbie Dawson started inviting other small business owners and people from the community to join the mob two years ago. They’ve since mobbed 29 small businesses.

The West Pasco Cash Mob uses a Facebook page to organize and promote their cash mob stores. On Saturday, they surprised the owner of Lovely Ladies Resale Shop, who opened five months ago. Despite doing good business, owner Jacquie Shupe said she needed Cash Mob since nearby road construction hurt her business.

How to find a local cash mob

While there are cash mobs all over the world, they typically are not clubs you join. They are informal social media powered meetups with a cause. But they need leadership and someone to get the ball rolling.

There are several self-declared resources and directories of cash mobs, but as they are locally-run and are all about online community, we suggest you find a local cash mob the old fashioned way: Google “cash mob” and the name of  your city or region.

Click through to a Facebook Page or Twitter account and look for up-to-date information and activity, and most importantly: enthusiasm and fun. (But then, shopping with a cause like supporting the job-creation engine in your own backyard: What could be more fun?)

(via: BayNews8.com, Tampa, Florida)