Shopping in Jamestown could get you a prize, too

Dec. 4—With 20 shopping days until Christmas, why not shop locally and possibly get a prize for doing so?

That's the idea behind the Loyal to Local Holiday Passport campaign which launched after Thanksgiving in Jamestown.

Emily Bivens, executive director of the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce, said Loyal to Local is a support local campaign. Consumers can pick up a "passport booklet," fill out the contact information and then return the booklet after spending a total of $250 at participating businesses.

Bivens said the passport booklets have been distributed at participating merchants and other places around Jamestown. They're also available at the chamber office. More than 40 businesses are participating.

"So a consumer can get a booklet and as they're going around and doing their holiday shopping ... they (merchants) stamp however much you purchase," Bivens said.

Up to $50 at each of the participating merchants can be stamped, so at least five businesses must be patronized. Once a consumer spends $250, the booklet is considered complete and can be dropped off at the chamber to be eligible for more than $10,000 in prizes to be given away in January.

"We have lots of prizes that were donated," Bivens said. They range from large-ticket items such as a wood pellet grill, 70-inch television and $350 in Chamber Bucks to cash, goody baskets and gift cards.

"It's quite the variety," she said.

The promotion runs through Jan. 8. Passports must be returned by Jan. 12, and the drawing for prizes will be on Jan. 15.

Consumers can also complete more than one passport. Bivens said the goal is for at least 400 booklets to be returned, which would mean $100,000 in local spending in Jamestown. There are 4,000 booklets available.

"We want to support local businesses," she said. "It's one of the main missions of the chamber is to help our local businesses and it's why we exist is to serve our members. So it (Loyal to Local) helps our local businesses, but it also helps the consumers. It gives them an incentive to shop local and win some prizes maybe."

Bivens, who networks with other chamber professionals in the U.S., said she got the Loyal to Local Holiday Passport idea from another chamber in Ohio, which tracked up to $100,000 in local spending through the campaign.

Bivens said the chamber was looking for a different promotion after conducting its Give, Get, Grow campaign in August 2020. During that campaign, monetary donations were accepted for a matching pool of funds. Then community members could purchase gift cards to local businesses that were matched with another gift card until the matching funds ran out. The matching pool of funds was used within the first four hours of the campaign, resulting in $65,000 in gift card sales that helped local businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

"We wanted something that would be just as helpful, make just as big of an impact (as Give, Get, Grow)," Bivens said. The chamber board opted to do the promotion during the holiday shopping season this year.

Zimmerman's Furniture is one of the participating businesses in the Loyal to Local Holiday Passport campaign and the prizes that are being given away next month are on display in the store.

"It's the loyalty to Jamestown is what makes us want to do it (participate)," said Dixie Lee, manager of Zimmerman's. "Support our businesses in Jamestown."

Bivens said the participating businesses in the passport booklet are chamber members but the promotion was open to any area business.

"I think one of the misconceptions is some of our bigger stores aren't considered local but they are," she said. "Because we do have some bigger stores in here (the booklet). Walmart, Menards, Cash Wise, they're all chamber members. So they support local, and they employ local employees, they contribute to our taxes, our community taxes and all that kind of stuff. Yes, we want to target our small businesses, but really it's all local business that we're trying to promote and that includes those bigger businesses."

Shopping locally makes a difference to Jamestown, she said.

"Every dollar spent locally, about 70 cents stays local," she said. "And every dollar spent nationally or in a corporation, less than 40 cents stays local. So local businesses, our brick-and-mortar businesses, are huge. Those dollars turn into money for our schools, our roads ... they turn into tax dollars. They just help the community as a whole. "

Trish Greenwood, owner of Comforts of Home Quilting, said her business is participating in the booklet program.

"Because it's a great idea to promote Jamestown and it also advertises me so if they don't know me it's in that book that shows people where to go," she said. "And I do feel that I've given away lots of books already, so I think that people are being more acceptable to the small businesses in Jamestown. It's been great fun."

She said she hopes the promotion continues.

"I think it's just a great idea," she said.

With supply chain issues in the U.S. causing disruptions for some businesses, Bivens noted shopping locally is also a way to purchase gifts on the shelves at Jamestown businesses this holiday season.

"You don't have to wait for the product. It's right there, you know you're supporting somebody you probably know," she said. "You probably know the business owner. We're in a small enough community where you'd be helping out a friend, probably. ... We do have some businesses in town who their inventory is up and down, but what they do have they can give you right there."