By Mark Squibb/October 28, 2021
The Mount Pearl-Paradise Chamber of Commerce is hoping folks shop local — and are even offering some incentives for them to do so.
Chamber president Darlene Careen said the chamber was successful in receiving some federal government funding, to the tune of $30,000, to support small business.
That funding was used to create the ‘Buy here, b’y’ campaign, which was launched this Wednesday.
“Our goal is to take every cent of money we received from that grant and put it back out to the communities and small businesses that we’re serving,” said Careen.
The funding has been divided into a number of streams to both help businesses and encourage folks to shop local.
The first is the development Chamber gift cards, which are available in denominations of $50 through $500. Those gift cards —totalling $10,000—will be given away randomly to those who enter on the website www.buyhereby.com or in person by campaign spokesperson Keith Power, who will be doing a series of ads and in person appearances to promote small businesses.
“Anyone can purchase them and use them within businesses in our Chamber but we’re planning to use them as promos or gifts,” said Careen.
Other monies will also be used to create business profile videos that business owners can then use to advertise their businesses. Those videos will be created without cost for the businesses.
Meanwhile, Careen herself said that she got her start at a small business.
“How many of us, our first job was at a small business, whether it be working at the corner store or babysitting?” she said. “I grew up in Branch, St. Mary’s Bay, so my first job was working at the corner store, and to see the hard work and the long hours, because it was a family operation… Being in a small business I learned you work hard, you work long hours, you work for what you earn, there’s no question about it.”
The chamber figures that for every $100 spent at a small business, $68 of that stays within the community.
“That’s a stat that’s staggering when we think about that,” said Careen. “When we think about how many small businesses there are, and how many jobs they create. For one million small businesses, there are ten million jobs. That’s phenomenal.”
