This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co. Its experience steps are for the experience editor released September 15, 2026; experiences built before then are legacy and have different screens.
A Holiday Shopping Guide, Shop Local Map, Shop Small Trail, Holiday Gift Guide, Small Business Saturday map, or Holiday Open House guide — whatever you call it, the goal is the same: turn "I should shop local this year" into actual feet in actual stores. Here's the build for a downtown of 40 shops, from the season-long guide to the Small Business Saturday one-day push.
1. Start With Your Business Listings
Your members are (or should be) listings in your workspace. Add missing ones on the Listings page with Add Listings (or its Import a Spreadsheet shortcut), and use Get data to fill in hours, photos, and websites. Then build the map: Maps → New Map, named "Holiday Shopping Guide 2026," with Build one from your listings as where the places come from. (See Listings vs. Collections: What's the Difference?)
2. Organize by Gift, Not by Industry
Here's the shift that makes a shopping guide useful: shoppers don't think "retail — apparel," they think "something for Dad." Add the suggested Type field and set its options accordingly — "Gifts for Foodies, Gifts for Kids, Cozy & Handmade, Stocking Stuffers, Gift Cards & Experiences" — and give each a festive marker. Then add two fields with Add a field:
"Holiday Deal" — the special-offer field for each shop's promotion, with dates that match the season.
"Extended Hours" — so late-night shopping events show right on the card.
Turn the Category and deal fields on as filters, and pick the Holiday map style in Display → Map style.
3. Let the Shops Keep Their Own Info Fresh
December hours change weekly — don't chase them. Give every shop its own portal login:
Open the shop's listing and add the owner as a contact (name + email). Give them the Manager role so they can edit.
Click the invite button next to their name. You'll confirm — "Email them a link to sign in and manage this listing" — then Send invite. They get a branded email with a Manage your listing button.
They sign in with their email and a 6-digit code — no password to set or forget.
Once in, they can edit their name, photos, and everything under Details — including your "Holiday Deal" and "Extended Hours" fields. Those changes apply immediately, everywhere the listing appears. (The address stays admin-only, so nobody accidentally moves their own pin.)
For info that lives on the shopping-guide collection specifically, their portal page shows an Edit button that opens a pre-filled form — "Edit your listing in Holiday Shopping Guide 2026." You choose whether those edits publish instantly or wait for your review (it follows the collection form's approval setting).
Two admin tips: the listing profile has a View as link that shows you exactly what that owner sees in their portal — perfect for support calls — and the Listings page shows "Invited" and "Last signed in" dates so you know who needs a nudge. The ask to each shop is one sentence: "Click the link and tell us your holiday deal and hours."
3½. Style It Like a Gift Guide
In Branding → Header: the guide's name as the Title, "Shop small this season" as the Subtitle, and nudge the Header size slider up if your logo deserves the room.
Brand colors: deep green primary with warm white text reads holiday without being loud — and we'll warn you if the pair is hard to read. Set the Featured color to gold; you'll use it for featured shops below.
Upload a festive Cover image — it doubles as your link preview when no share image is set — and pick a Custom font or inherit your workspace's.
One viewer feature earns its keep here: in Point Card → Actions, turn on Save and rename it "Add to My List" — shoppers build a gift list as they browse, and their saves land on their personal My Places page. That's a shopping guide people come back to.
4. The Small Business Saturday Play
Layer a one-day passport on top: go to Passports, pick the Small Business Saturday template, and under Where should the places people visit come from? choose Use a collection you already have:
The template starts with Code and Receipt check-ins on under Check-in Rules — a code card at each register, and a receipt if you want purchases (not just visits) to count. Each shop's code is on its row; every shop can print its own counter card from its portal kit.
The Badges tab already has "Shopped Small" (Earn when → Visit 5 stops) — add a Completion message for a prize-drawing entry.
Set Starts and Ends under Settings → General to the day, print the Sign-up poster for every shop window the week before, and click View as participant to try it yourself before launch.
Prefer a season-long game? Use the Holiday Shopping Passport template instead — a "Festive Pass" that runs Thanksgiving through New Year's with weekly prize drawings from Export → One row per person.
Built your experience before September 15, 2026? That one is a legacy experience with different screens, and its participation link starts with map.proxi.co. It keeps working without interruption, and there is nothing you need to migrate. The steps here are for the experience editor; the legacy tester steps are in Testing Your Challenge or Scavenger Hunt Before Launch.
5. Promote It Like a Gift Guide
Set a warm link preview image (Sharing section) — this link lives in Facebook groups and email newsletters all season.
Post category-by-category: "Gifts for Foodies — 8 downtown stops" with the map link filtered to that category by sharing after picking the filter.
Print the guide (Print & Export, list grouped by Category) for hotel lobbies and the visitor center, QR included.
Window clings with the map QR — "We're on the Shop Local Map" — make every storefront a distribution point.
6. Show the Impact
In January, pull Analytics: guide views, per-shop views and directions taps, and passport check-ins per store. "The holiday guide drove 4,100 views and 312 verified check-ins" is the sentence that renews memberships and sponsors.
Worth a read on the Proxi blog: 7 ideas for chambers to boost Small Business Saturday, the holiday planning playbook, the small business holiday guide webinar recap, the festive pass, mapping holiday pop-ups, and the West Des Moines Chamber's Candy Cane Trail for a real chamber example.