Eric MillerCash mob participants in Kent, Ohio.

Updated at 11:04 a.m. / To reflect that another cash mob was held last week in Cleveland.

Looking for a way to spend your dollars locally during the holiday season? Want to go out for a drink and a snack afterwards? A “cash mob” may be just the ticket.

The concept is simple: Organizers select a local business and urge people via Twitter or Facebook to shop there at a certain time. Cash mobs began popping up in recent months in Buffalo and Cleveland, and they are spreading to other locales too. (An organizer in Canada is promoting “Twelve Days of Cash Mobs.”)

As with many social-media inspired phenomena, it’s not entirely clear who came up with the initial idea, but it seems to be catching on. At the urging of a local blogger, shoppers staged a cash mob at a Buffalo wine store last summer. More recently, cash mobs have descended on a bookstore in Cleveland, and on a seller of locally made jewelry and art in San Diego, Calif.

Andrew Samtoy, 32, a full-time lawyer and part-time cash mob impresario in Cleveland, said the aimed is to support local businesses while reclaiming the fun and spontaneity of flash mobs. (Flash mobs began as a lighthearted way for people to gather together to sing and dance in public, but morphed into something destructive as the notion was adopted by thugs and troublemakers.)

“We want to support local businesses that employ people and build wealth in the community,” Mr. Samtoy said in a telephone interview.

A cash mob targeted a Cleveland bookstore in November, and another Cleveland event was held last week. A highlight of a cash mob — at least, in the Cleveland version — is gathering afterwards at local watering hole to tip a mug and get to know fellow mobbers. The nearby city of Kent, Ohio, has been cash-mobbing, too.

On a blog about cash mobs, Mr. Samtoy and his compatriots suggest choosing a business that is supportive of the local community, and not identifying the store too far ahead of time to create an element of surprise. “In my opinion, life has become far too ordered,” he said. (Typically, a meeting place is announced a week ahead of time, and the identity of the store is revealed when everyone gathers.) The spending goal should be no more than $20 a person, although people can of course spend more if they choose. And organizers should give the store owners a heads up, so they aren’t overwhelmed.

Mr. Samtoy added that he wasn’t opposed to big business, but that small businesses deserve support so they can grow.

Do you think a cash mob is an effective way to spend your dollars locally?

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