Ever realised how supporting your local shops could help your community this Christmas? Here's 13 ways to help your local neighbourhood this festive season.
1. Keep local businesses running. In one of the toughest years in retail in a long time, the closure of yet another business creates a vicious cycle in your community where people lose jobs, incomes drop and morale falls. Support a local business and buck the trend.
For many businesses, the last quarter of the year is when businesses make their profit to ride out leaner times. If you spend in your community, everyone benefits.
2. Buy gifts FROM your location. You'll help keep money in the community by giving gifts that made locally.
3. Buy gifts OF your location. Help support and publicise your community by giving gifts that illustrate (literally) or demonstrate things for which your area is famous, such as beautiful map gifts of your city or wine region.
4. Local businesses invest in their community. By buying from local businesses, the taxes they pay help to improve services and facilities, in turn, making it a more attractive location for prospective residents.
5. Successful businesses create jobs. If people spend money with your local business, you have more money to invest and you may need extra employees, creating jobs. Job creation helps keep your local community alive.
6. Interesting towns become must-visit destinations. If your community has plenty of unique shops for visitors to experience [pictured: Martha's Food & Home, Orange, NSW], accommodation to stay in and attractions to enjoy, it makes it onto tourist bucket lists which adds an influx of money outside your own residents.
Local shops often provide one-of-a-kind, handmade, or regional gift products you can’t find in big-box stores which in turn makes it fun for visitors.
7. Buy gifts in wholesale quantities. You're likely to need a number of gifts to give clients, kids for upcoming birthdays, or just to keep on hand for last-minute gift occasions. That one bulk buy might make a huge difference to the livelihood of the store.
8. Place your best gift-giver in charge. Everyone has a great gift-giver in their immediate circle. They not only know of local shops and businesses who have the perfect item for gift recipients but they keep a lookout for items mentioned locally in their newspaper, radio and on social media which will appeal to customers for a variety of reasons.
9. Opt for local businesses offering click-and-collect. You'll not only help a local business and save money on shipping but come on, who hasn’t bought an extra impulse item at the checkout when you’re there to collect your online purchase?
10. Avoid delivery stress. By collecting your products in person, you'll save time and stress knowing you're not going to miss the postie if you're not home to sign for deliveries.
11. Buy now, avoid disappointment. Reduce your own stress and that of your local businesses by taking your pick of the best gift choices right now as they may not be able to reorder and replenish stock before Christmas.
12. Give customised thank you gifts in bulk. If you're planning a large get-together, a corporate event, a product launch, settlement gifts or a wedding, order local items as thank you gifts you can get customised with a label.
13. Reduce carbon footprint. Shopping locally reduces the need to ship long distances which helps cut greenhouse emissions.
Palatable Tea Towels helps champion Australian tourism through its range of beautifully watercolour-illustrated tourist map gifts including aprons, greeting cards, postcards, tea towels and tote bags, all lightweight souvenirs to help visitors remember their adventures and plan new destinations. Check out our range of beautiful map gifts.