Block neighborhoods attract 30,000 new sellers

Block’s Neighborhoods service has added 30,000 sellers since the end of June, according to a company filing. The rollout, which began in October, aims to link local merchants with the growing base of Cash App users.

Seller count climbs as rewards program expands

The platform gives each merchant a branded storefront that appears both on the web and inside Cash App. Shoppers can browse a map in the dedicated tab, place orders, and stay linked to the business for future visits.

Customers earn up to $10 per order through a program called Local Cash. Cash App covers the cost of those rewards for the first twelve months, a move intended to encourage repeat purchases.

Merchants also receive a channel to push marketing messages to users who follow them. New patrons may be granted a one‑time $5 bonus, also funded by Cash App, when they place their first order.

The storefront design mirrors a miniature e‑commerce site, complete with product images, pricing, and a checkout flow that taps directly into the Cash App payment engine. Because the experience lives inside the same app that many users already use for peer‑to‑peer transfers, the friction typically associated with switching to a new shopping platform is dramatically reduced.

Beyond the visual storefront, the map view aggregates participating merchants by neighborhood, allowing shoppers to discover nearby options they might not have known existed. By clicking on a pin, users can instantly view hours, menu highlights, and any active promotions, creating a seamless path from discovery to purchase.

Financial impact and future plans

As of June, sellers in the network represent an annualized gross payment volume of $1 billion, a rise of 22% from March. Block did not reveal the total number of participating merchants.

The company says the next phase involves auto‑enabling the service nationwide and testing ways to increase merchant density in local markets. The rollout feels a bit like a patchwork quilt, but that’s the way it works.

Auto‑enablement will allow any eligible business to be added to the platform without manual onboarding, streamlining the path for new storefronts to appear on the map within minutes. In parallel, density tests will examine how clustering multiple merchants in a single zip code influences shopper behavior, potentially guiding future incentives aimed at creating lively micro‑economies.

Block’s broader ambition for Neighborhoods is to cultivate a two‑sided marketplace where local commerce thrives alongside the digital convenience that Cash App users expect. By positioning the service as a bridge between traditional brick‑and‑mortar establishments and the mobile‑first payment ecosystem, Block hopes to capture a segment of the market that has historically been underserved by larger online retailers.

In related activity, Square announced that Cascadia Pizza Co. has returned to its point‑of‑sale system. The chain will use Square’s restaurant POS, franchise applications, and associated hardware for its 17 corporate locations, food trucks, and catering units.

Square did not specify when Cascadia previously left the platform or which provider it used in the interim. The move shows the company’s ongoing effort to attract hospitality operators back to its ecosystem.

Re‑engaging a multi‑unit restaurant brand shows Square’s strategy of leveraging its hardware and software suite to support complex operational needs, from order taking on the floor to inventory tracking across mobile units. By integrating the restaurant POS with franchise management tools, Square provides a unified view of sales performance, labor costs, and customer preferences, which can be especially valuable for businesses that operate both fixed‑site restaurants and mobile service models.