The birds are chirping, the public water fountains are back on, all the brown snow mounds have melted away, and it’s time to get outside (well, until the temperature dips again, at least). And as you wander the neighborhood, there’s no better time to support local shops across Greenpoint as the Shop Small Greenpoint Spring Retail Crawl returns for another year.

From May 2-10, 45 independently-owned stores in the community are participating—including Lockwood, Big Night, Teak, Word, Bagel Joint, Goldpoint, and more—and you could win a number of prizes.

To “play,” pick up a crawl passport at a participating shop, outlined here, and get a stamp on your passport whenever you spend $10 at any of them. Three stamps will earn you a limited-edition Shop Small Greenpoint tote bag if you’re one of the first 200 to claim it. Eight stamps collected over the span of the crawl will make you eligible to enter the grand prize drawing for a gift bundle of over $500 worth of goodies from local businesses.

As a new feature this year, select participating shops are offering shoppers weekday-only discounts by showing their passport from May 4-8. Specific discount information is available via QR code on each passport.

Shop Small Greenpoint is also partnering with Friends of McGolrick Park for a donation drive—any business marked with a green leaf icon on the crawl map will give a portion of the purchase to support their work on annual programming and park beautification.

Shop Small Greenpoint began their retail crawls in November 2022, and have expanded them to happen twice a year, in both fall and spring, every year since. The first iteration included just 24 businesses, and it continues to grow while underlining the mission of supporting local independent shops, keeping spending power in the neighborhood, and forging more community relationships.

Considering the possible impact of yet another G train suspension, small businesses in Greenpoint especially need support in the months ahead.