Ladies Night Returns to Downtown Brighton

Ladies of all ages are invited to downtown Brighton Thursday between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. for Ladies Night Out to get some Christmas shopping done while creating their own wishlists for their families and friends.

Ladies Night Out is an annual winter event held by participating downtown retailers and restaurants, which offer special promotions for the night.

Ladies Night Out is the brainchild of Gail Sherman, owner of Impulse Clothing Boutique. About eight years ago she had the idea to invite women and their sisters, moms and friends to her store right before Christmas for some holiday shopping. The event has grown bigger every year.

Lisa Nelson, owner of Hush Intimate Apparel, said Ladies Night Out is a special night filled with refreshments, discounts and even some free gifts.

Nelson said Ladies Night Out is important because it creates customer awareness of other stores

"It's a load of fun," she said. "It gives women an excuse to go out with their girlfriends. They can say to their husbands, 'well.. it's Ladies Night Out. They're not doing it next week, they're doing it this week.' It creates some extra excitement."

Downtown Main Martini Bar & Grill will feature drink specials and its very own Santa Claus.

"We have an awesome Santa," Lindsay Palizzi, owner of the restaurant, said. "He starts to grow his beard out in July and doesn't need any extra padding, if you know what I mean. He'll be there to take pictures with ladies and kids."

Downtown Main is also offering a special drawing, where customers can bring in their receipts from their Ladies Night purchases to be entered to win multiple prizes, such as gift cards, T-shirts and more.

"For our now growing downtown, we're always competing with the malls - especially this time of year, with all the deals the bigger franchises can do," Palizzi said. "We know we can't necessarily mark everything at 75 percent off, but what we like to do is have unique items that people can't find anywhere else and give the absolute best customer service. What we do is events like this, where we have fashion shows in the different boutiques and people are serving champagne and hors d'oeuvres, we try to make it a fun environment.

Another thing unique about downtown Brighton that the big franchise stores don't offer, are wishlists. Ladies, while shopping for their friends and families, can add items they see and like to a wishlist and their significant others can come into the store and pick out items from the ladies' lists. The stores also gift wrap items on site.

Other Ladies Night Out features include free haircuts to new clients between Ladies Night hours at Reflections Salon & Spa. In addition, Rottermond Jewelers will raffle off a $500 shopping spree. There will also be trunk and fashion shows in the many boutiques.

For more information on Ladies Night Out, visit the Brighton Chamber of Commerce online.