THE declaration of this newspaper’s support of ShopLocal North Yorkshire seems a obvious thing to do. We live in difficult times and it makes sense to do business locally to mitigate the most damaging aspects of this recession.
Thankfully, our High Streets and Market Places are not in desperate straits – yet – but in a number the signs are there.
Closures have taken place and there will be more. We all have a responsibility to spend what money we have to support our local communities.
The beauty of the ShopLocal scheme is that participants do not have to have a well-developed sense of altruism to participate.
For £2.50, the card entitles the consumer to instant and continuing discounts. Individually, the discounts may not be as eye-catching as some we have seen some bigger stores offer, but collectively they certainly add up. We have proved it with a day’s shopping in Bedale which more than paid for the card.
It makes sense for traders too. For a relatively modest outlay, they can tap into a growing number of the customers who, by dint of purchasing the card, have shown a willingness to use local traders.
Our support is designed to further advance the scheme. We would like to see it spread throughout North Yorkshire and into County Durham. We encourage readers to buy the card and we urge the business community to participate where possible.
It’s very simple. In these unprecedented times we have to help ourselves.
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