Business owners in the Elmwood Village are coming together to not only serve as a resource for each other, but to also plan for the community’s future growth.

Thin Ice owner Therese Deutschlander and ShopCraft owner Christa Penner are two of the founding members of the Elmwood Strip Merchants Group. They started meeting over coffee with other business owners in the Elmwood Village in March, and officially launched with 45 members at the end of September.

"It started just because we wanted to try to unify the street and bring all the merchants back together, and have some really great holiday events, and just really bring traffic to the city," Deutschlander.

The group's inaugural event, Oktoberfest, will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday.There's a free shuttle, sponsored by Delaware District Councilman Joel Feroleto, that will take people to five stops between North Street and Forest Avenue. People will get a punch card to use at participating businesses, and can turn them in to win various gift cards.

"All the different participating businesses have specials specific to the weekend, so you go in with your punch card, you get half-off appetizers, you get a free drink, you get 10 percent off your entire meal. So, we've really incentivized people to come hang out for the whole weekend," Deutschlander said.

The group will also serve as a resource to help fill vacant storefronts, and already had a new tenant reach out to them Tuesday.

"It was really great to meet someone who is fresh and new, and she was really excited to talk to us and find out what kind of insight we could give her, and we're of course excited to have her and all of the new business owners involved in our group," Penner said.

"Anybody that wants to own a business on Elmwood, we're always like 'please, come talk to us.' I love reading business plans. I'm happy to edit them," Deutschlander said.

Penner says the merchants group will also market participating businesses through a website and social media.

They are already planning for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday events, and getting ready to decorate for the holiday season.