Sask. Chamber of Commerce encourages shoppers to look for local options

YORKTON -

Sixteen Saskatchewan chambers of commerce have launched a campaign to encourage support for local businesses ahead of the holiday season.

Steve McLellan, CEO of Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, said a series of technical tools were provided to businesses to provide them a platform to share their unique stories.

“Whether it’s a restaurant, retail store, small manufacturer or consulting, we said let’s make sure those stories get told and during COVID-19 it’s more important than ever to make sure that people know about the opportunities right here on main street Saskatchewan,” he said.

The campaign is in partnership with the federal government. Ottawa has invested just over $1.1 million into the project, which is administered by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce and has been rolled out by local chambers across the province.

As part of the campaign, the chambers embarked on video projects that share stories about of almost 900 Saskatchewan businesses, including some from Melville, Weyburn, Estevan, and Moose Jaw. The video project shows the products and services that local businesses have to offer, which are then used as promotional material by the business.

“We created videos, websites and promotional material to promote all this in their area for people to utilize and get inspired to shop local,” said McLellan.

According to a survey conducted by the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce, since the launch of the project 69 per cent of respondents noticed more communication around the benefits of shopping local; 41 per cent said that they have shopped more at local stores; 23 per cent of business owners reported seeing more local customers in their stores or businesses.

Jessie Richards, owner of The Scrub Hub Boutique, is among local businsess in Yorkton that worked on a video project with the Chambers. Richards said that while she does use social media to advertise her business, this project has helped showcase the importance of supporting local business owners.

“I think that if one business locally did a shop local campaign, it might not get as noticed but because there’s been over a hundred [campaigns], I think that our voices as a small business community was very loud and showed people that there is a reason to shop local,” she said.