Local Online Deals Website Expands Offerings

When Patch last checked in with Rafael Vasquez in the fall of 2012, the Setauket resident had just launched a website that he described as a hyperlocal version of Groupon or LivingSocial: AllDealsLocal.com, which catered to the Setauket and Stony Brook communities. 

Now, less than a year later, Vasquez has expanded the AllDealsLocal horizons by moving into Port Jefferson and even offering deals in nearby Mt. Sinai, Coram and Miller Place.

"I was just a user of Groupon and all that stuff," he said. "I always used it but more than half the emails I was getting were for deals in Nassau County or a drive away, and I wasn’t going to Syosset for a car wash. Why can’t we do that here in our town on a local level?"

And so he's doing it. Port Jefferson-area businesses such as the Davis Peach Farm stand, Shear Bliss Hair Studio, Grace Forever spa and De Lamour spa and salon have signed on over the last few months to offer discounted products and services.

"It’s working," Vasquez said. "People want to be involved and subscribers are contacting me. They’re involved and they are describing what kind of deals they want and giving us good feedback. Merchants, some more than others, are very excited about what we do."

He started AllDealsLocal as a part-time venture while working full-time with his family's contracting business, Setauket-based JJR Associates, which has been around for three decades. 

Vasquez said he plans on heading farther west, too. He's already offered one deal in St. James and hopes to gain momentum in the Smithtown area.

"I had this grand idea. It was going to be All Deals Long Island,'" he said. "Relatively speaking, it’s a lot more grunt work than I anticipated. But I don’t mind working hard. I like it."