Librarian Rachel Fox is on a mission to promote Port Washington businesses and nonprofits, one Facebook post at a time.
Fox, who serves as the director of children’s services at the Port Washington Public Library, created the Facebook page “Rachel’s Merchant Monday” in late January to give a spotlight to businesses around town.
Every Monday, Fox posts pictures with herself and business owners and provides an overview of the store’s offerings for anyone who may be interested in shopping.
The page featuring small businesses and nonprofits has gained traction since its launch a little over a month ago. Roughly 500 people who were curious about what Port Washington had to offer started following the page.
Despite now being recognized on the street as “the Merchant Monday lady,” Fox said the initiative is solely to spotlight local businesses.
“The only skin I have in this game is to get you some business,” Fox said. “There’s nothing in it for me. I won’t even take a cup of coffee from anybody.”
Fox is a familiar face to generations of kids at the Port Washington Public Library. The children she helped mentor over 30 years ago now bring their kids to meet and learn from her.
Fox said every day at the library is a different adventure. And she makes joy out of every task, whether it’s filling out paperwork and scheduling events or leading activities like “Baby Rhyme Time,” a storytime session for infants that uses songs to promote early literacy skills.
“If you ever having a bad day, you come in and you see those babies, and it’ll cheer you right up,” Fox said.
The energy and cheer Fox exudes aren’t limited to children’s activities either. Longtime friend and Town of North Hempstead Council Member Mariann Dalimonte said Fox always puts others before herself, like giving away tomatoes she grew in her garden to anyone she knew.
“She has a heart of gold,” Dalimonte said. “She always checks in with people. You know it’s a genuine friendship because she is not like, ‘Oh, what can I use you for?’ She’s like, ‘No, what can I help you with?’”
Fox came up with the idea of Merchant Mondays after noticing some businesses around town struggling due to low traffic.
“Port Washington is just a very warm place, but it’s also very north of everything, so it makes it really hard for businesses to stay in business,” Fox said. “It’s a very teeny-tiny thing that I’m doing to try to help, but I guess every teeny-tiny thing helps.”
The first Merchant Monday post was on Fox’s personal Facebook page in late January. It featured Shoreline Sports Cards, a trading-card store that opened last fall at 137 Main Street. The post’s viral spread on Port Washington-area Facebook groups inspired Fox to create her own Merchant Monday page so she could feature a business in town every week.
In the weeks since launching the page, businesses have been flooding Fox’s inboxes continuously for features. To not seem biased against one business or another, Fox picks each week’s edition out of a jar that’s quickly filling with submissions.
Fox said the volunteer initiative is starting to feel like a full-time job. Along with walking to each business to take photos and interview owners, Fox always seems to make time for other community service initiatives, her friend and Port Washington Water District commissioner, Mindy Germain, said.
Germain, who is the former executive director of Residents Forward, said Fox and her wife Patricia would always turn out for volunteer activities like community cleanups with a smile on their faces.
Even as a librarian, Germain said that Fox could always raise her children’s spirits.
“She was just always so wonderful with my kids; whether they were coming in working on a recent book report and had to find a book on a certain topic, she always had a smile and would make them laugh,” Germain said. “Something that seemed like an arduous task. She made them excited about it.”
Due to Merchant Monday’s success, Fox recently expanded her posting with Wednesday Wonders, which highlights non-profit organizations in the area.
But that’s not all for Fox, who is expanding her shop-local initiative with a soon-to-be-named Friday series where she will run to a location around town, and her followers have to guess where she ends up. Fox said will also encourage her followers to post their exercise routines under each post.
“She is a life force,” Germain said. “I can’t even imagine where she gets her energy because I could see her at like three community events in the same day… She’s like the Energizer Bunny rabbit.”
