Bixby Knolls business gets mobbed— and its owner is thrilled about it

A group of 39 people met up outside Café Bixby Wednesday night. They knew why they were at the Bixby Knolls restaurant, but they had no idea where they would be headed minutes later. Each was ready to spend 20 bucks but didn’t know which local business would be the recipient of those dollars. Without knowing which retail establishment they would be patronizing, the shoppers were mostly clueless as to what item or items they would be purchasing.
Yet, at 7pm, there they stood, waiting for someone, perhaps Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association (BKBIA) Executive Director Blair Cohn, who had organized the event, to fill them in.
Those willing participants were not only good sports— they were folks eager to help a local business in their neighborhood.
The meet-up, which was an experiment of sorts, is what Cohn and others call “a cash mob,” a group of individuals who congregate at a designated place at a designated time, with a particular amount of money in pocket, ready to be informed the store they would target. The cash mob is not unlike a flash mob, which is a group of people who abruptly congregate in a particular location, present a performance (usually a dance), then go their separate ways.
Cohn said he first heard about cash mobs from an article he’d read. “At the beginning of the year, I read an article about what may have been the first cash mob organized in Ridgewood, New Jersey,” he said. “Locals got together to support an ailing local hardware store that had been in the neighborhood for years. The organizer called all his friends and got about 40 people together and went to spend money in the store. Simple concept that makes a lot of sense.”
Cohn emphasized that he’d like the mobs to be fun, and he has decided to amp up the surprise factor to do so. “Most mobs already know where they are going,” he said. “We have decided just to say where we are meeting and not where we are going, so there is more of the element of surprise for both the participant and business owner.”
Choosing that business owner is likely the most difficult part of this undertaking for Cohn. “This is a tough one,” he said. “We throw all types of factors into our blender to make the choice: products/services offered, price points in the business, how engaged in the community the business is, time of year, and a few other ingredients. We will want to mix it up and give all different types of businesses the opportunity to be supported in this type of way. It’s a tough decision, but we hope we can keep doing these things and move it all around the district. We already have businesses contacting us that want to be the next location.”
Although the cash-mob concept is a new one for Cohn and the BKBIA, it is similar to the Supper Club gatherings that they organize on Monday nights, which are typically the slowest times for eateries.
“Our programs are all tied to helping out the businesses,” Cohn said. “First Fridays [art walk] is a district-wide type of showcase focused along Atlantic. Supper Club is specifically for restaurants. Cash mobs open the door to potentially reach a retailer or two and a service business at the same time. This is an event that targets the specific location like Supper Club but is available to all BKBIA members.”
Last Wednesday, among those standing outside the restaurant was Maria Weston, a California Heights resident and certified massage therapist. “I’m here for the cash mob,” she said enthusiastically. “I’ve heard about them, but this is my first one, and it’s in my neighborhood!”
Shortly thereafter, it was Scott Jones from the business-consulting company Living Long Beach who commanded the group’s attention. Jones had recently started to organize mobs in Belmont Shore, so Cohn asked him to assist with the Bixby Knolls endeavor.

Sporting a marching-band-leader hat, Jones thanked those who had shown up and provided a bit of history surrounding cash mobs. He mentioned that the first one he knew about had been in Chicago, and it resulted in, ironically, looting. Its organizers then set out to try to foster “a peaceful mob.”
“The purpose of this cash mob is: we’re going to support a local business within this corridor,” Jones said, referring to the Atlantic Avenue corridor that includes numerous restaurants and retail stores. “But we want to support local businesses no matter where they’re at.”
He then announced that the chosen store would be Pixie Toys, which is about a block north of Café Bixby, and asked the assembled mob to follow him down the sidewalk.
About 20 minutes later, there was a line of shoppers formed at the cash register at Pixie, and it almost reached the back of the store. Unlike the queues of impatient, stressed folks seen during the holidays, the mobbers took advantage of the time waiting in line to get to know each other and tell what they were buying and for whom. Some of the purchases included toy trucks made of recycled milk jugs, a miniature game of Uno and kids’ eating utensils, also made of recyled plastic. Weston bought an “A to Z Magnatab,” which helps children 3 and older to practice capital-letter formation. She said it will be a Christmas gift for her granddaughter, who is just learning to write letters.
The next day, Heather Rasmussen, owner of Pixie Toys, said she had made $1,000 in the hour during the cash-mob shopping. She said she garnered 30 sales from the event, which averages out to $34 a person— $14 more than the suggested amount.
“I think it’s a really great opportunity to be a part of this and that I was the first business chosen,” Rasmussen said Thursday. “That people would come out one night and supprt a business and not know who it would be is really awesome. I really hope that because of this event it will change the way people look at small businesses and that they will want to also be a part of it.”
Cohn indicated that it’s still too early to decide if the cash-mob idea is one that will stick. “It will all be based on how many people show up, if they have a good time, if the business owner is happy,” he said. “We will want to try it at least two to three times and then will decide about making this a regular thing. If we get the type of crowds we get at Supper Club, Strollers [walking group], Literary Society, Happy Hour, or Kidical Mass [bicycling group], then the business owner will definitely be happy. It’s such a simple concept and so easy for people to get involved. A small investment from each individual adds up to such a major impact within our district.”