Shoppers are being encouraged to ensure that they devote a proportion of their Christmas shopping to local bricks-and-mortar or ‘Irish’ online stores, as ISME launches its 2023 Shop Local campaign.
Local shopping for locally produced goods and services returns multiples of the spend to the community and keeps the main street in towns active and vibrant. Because Ireland is a small, open economy, a lot of our spending as consumers is on imported goods. This limits the “multiplier” flow of wealth around the community. However, if we try to ensure at least a proportion of our purchases are locally sourced, each euro we spend can produce two, three or four euro of additional wealth in the community.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
The focus of the campaign is for us all to Think Local before we buy, not just for Christmas, but throughout the year. Local spending helps to: Support the local community; Maintain the anchor tenants in our main streets; Reduce our carbon output and transport costs; Promote goods and services that are sustainable and traceable; Ensure consumers get value for money and high quality; and creates real high value local jobs, therefore making a genuine contribution to the economy.
Neil McDonnell, Chief Executive at ISME, said: “We can all make a difference for local retailers and hospitality providers this Christmas through our spending decisions. We can save time, money, effort, and the environment by devoting at least a portion of our festive spend to local businesses this Christmas.”
To find out more about the campaign and to explore the businesses involved please visit isme.ie/shop-local
