Deal Garden is offering travel discounts this summer with Midwest Getaways. Screenshot from dealgarden.com.
The folks at Deal Garden are putting out a bumper crop this summer (sorry, couldn’t resist the horticulture joke) with a recent expansion into travel via Midwest Getaways. They launched it earlier this week and, as of Thursday afternoon, already had more than 500 buyers on their first deal, a two-day getaway to Omaha. There are more deals in the works around the Midwest.
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In a recent interview, Deal Garden co-founder Pat Lazure (left, photo by Danny Schreiber) discussed the deal site landscape and how Deal Garden has worked to secure a spot in the market. “We’ve concentrated on the Midwest, and specifically in a lower population tier than some of the other players,” Lazure said. “While Groupon and others have focused on the largest metropolitan areas, we have kept our focus on a slightly smaller group of cities with closer proximity to our operations in Omaha.”
Deal Garden has branched out to include several Midwest cities, including its recent expansion to Rochester, Minn. The company now has five full-time employees and is looking to hire for two additional positions. Next in the works will be a move to the Cedar Valley in the near future.
“The Cedar Valley fits our mold perfectly,” Lazure said. “They are a moderate sized population hub in the Midwest, within traveling distance from Omaha, and they had a very motivated recruiter driving us to the area.”
That would be Brent Matthias, the economic development director for Waverly, Iowa and Bremer County. Said Matthias: “The Cedar Valley had a void in terms of a deal offering site. The major players did not have a presence, and so I sought Deal Garden out. What they offer is a huge win for both our retailers and the consumer. Deal Garden liked our size and the college presence that we have here; both were selling points that I stressed. It’s offered our business community a new vehicle to market through and will offer the consumer great deals they were not otherwise getting.”
On behalf of the Cedar Valley, and as a self-described cheap-o, it’s great to have Deal Garden coming to town.
