Parkville Comics Shop Offering 'Belly' Rewards For Visits

A Parkville business is the first to capitalize on a national trend, offering rewards to customers through a tech start-up based in Chicago.

Collectors Corner, the comics shop on Harford Road in Parkville, is the only merchant in Baltimore County currently signed up for Belly—a customer loyalty program that uses an online app and physical card to track customer visits.

Here's how it works: when you visit the store, you check in using an iPad located near the register. Each check in earns you five points, which you can save up or cash in. One wallet-sized card tracks all your Belly points across all the stores your visit.

Each business designs its own reward system. At Collectors Corner, rewards include a high five (5 points), a 40 percent discount (100 points), and a movie night for you and four friends (200 points).

For 500 points, owner Randy Myers and manager Dave Crispino will take you to dinner.

Around the Baltimore metro area, only one other business has signed up: Yogiberry in Columbia. In Annapolis, another comic book shop, Third Eye Comics, is also on board. 

But nationwide, 2,969 businesses (plus one in Puerto Rico) have registered to use Belly—including more than 200 around Washington, D.C.

Back in May, tech blog TechCrunch wrote about the Chicago-based company when they hit their millionth customer check-in.

Are you a Parkville-area business owner? Would you consider signing up for a program like Belly? As a shopper is this a program you would use? Tell us in the comments.