There was a story in Monday’s paper encouraging shoppers to buy locally this Christmas, as opposed to unsaid overseas web sites. The accompanying picture caption included that the shopper ‘prefers to buy from Australian brands at bricks and mortar stores’, she is holding a Sephora bag. Sephora is a French multinational retail chain. Is this the true meaning of shopping local for Christmas?
Is shopping at any bricks and mortar store in your community shopping locally? Or is shopping at a store owned by a local the more correct meaning?
Certainly, both are preferable to buying on an overseas web site, if Australian jobs is a consideration. If how and where the profit that business makes is re-utilised is also a consideration, then which bricks and mortar shops (or even web sites) you shop at should be a consideration also.
‘It’s the thought that counts”, is sometimes heard when someone doesn’t get their perfect gift on Christmas Day, but maybe if we put some more thought into where we buy, rather than what we buy, the comment might be said with more sincerity.
Regional Australia is generally doing it tough at the moment, bush fires and drought are causing major hurdles that will take years for those directly affected to bounce back. And if agriculture is the major income producer for that community, its economy will also take years to recover.
By thinking about where you buy presents this Christmas can make a real difference to more than just the receiver. And it can be as simple as buying a gift card.
You may have heard the radio commercials mentioning the Keppel Cash gift cards as ideal Christmas gifts. The gift card that keeps giving to the community it was bought in. With Keppel Cash it is the Livingstone Shire. The gift card is purchased in the shire and can only be redeemed there. If you think that is a bit limiting check out the 68 businesses you can redeem the cards at www.whyleavetown.com/keppelcash. Not one a multinational retail chain. Most owner operated, who generally re-invest what profit they make back in the community they live in.
If this is closer to your true meaning of shopping local for Christmas visit the Why Leave Town web site, see the 36 regional communities that can directly benefit from the gift card you purchase.
If you think where you buy a gift card from won’t make a difference, consider that possibly around $1 million in gift cards will be purchased by Livingstone Shire residents this Christmas Shopping season. If the bulk of this amount stayed, circulating in the Livingstone shire that will make a positive difference to the number of hours existing retail and hospitality employees work and the opportunities available for those that don’t have jobs. People you might presently engage with.