Clevelanders are becoming familiar with the cash mob experience, which encourages consumers to converge and spend at locally owned stores. But the warm-hearted initiative is spreading to other parts of the nation, reports Reuters.

"After the original Cash Mob in Cleveland, [Andrew] Samtoy's Facebook friends in other cities picked up on the idea and organized their own gatherings. Samtoy can rattle off a list of friends from Los Angeles to Boston who were the ‘early adapters' of the Cash Mob phenomenon," the article reports.

“Flash mobs have been blamed as a factor in looting during urban riots. But now a group of online activists is harnessing social media like Twitter and Facebook to get consumers to spend at locally owned stores in cities around the world in so-called Cash Mobs.”

The concept of a cash mob is simple, you are required to spend at least $20 at the chosen location (usually a small independently owned local establishment) and meet three people you have never met before, according to Samtoy, the concept’s founder.

“The 32-year-old dreamed up the Cash Mob idea last year after spending time in Britain during summer riots that unleashed looting in cities including London, Manchester and Birmingham.”

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