Love Your Local Shop
January 24th, 2012
Loyal customers are being encouraged to ‘spread the love’ this
Valentine’s Day by nominating their favourite independent shop or
business for the prestigious Cheshire East Love Local Life Awards.
All shoppers need do is nominate the shop of their choice in one or
more of four categories by visiting the Love Local Life website . The
categories are: outstanding service; best range of products; best
value; best presentation.
Each customer nominating their favourite shop will be
entered into a prize draw to win a voucher for £200 to celebrate
with on Valentine’s Day. The winning shops will receive a
free business makeover review from expert ‘shop doctor’ Bill Smith
who helps small businesses master entrepreneurial skills. The
winning shops will also be given a year’s free subscription to the
Love Local Life scheme, which is helping high streets across the
Borough beat the economic downturn.
The Love Local Life card, which has so far been launched in
seven Cheshire East towns, gives discounts to regular customers and
promotes local shopping. Amanda Fazelynia, the business woman
behind the campaign, said: “Love Local Life is going from
strength-to-strength and these awards are our way of recognising
all the hard work undertaken by the business community to keep our
high-streets alive and thriving. It’s also a way of encouraging
customers to support their local shops and join the Love Local Life
scheme which offers great discounts on everyday shopping.”
Jamie Macrae, Cabinet member for prosperity, said: “Love Local
Life is now one of the most successful high street campaigns in the
region. “Altogether seven towns have signed up,
representing over 240 independent businesses and more than 28,000
cards are now in circulation among local residents.
“Businesses across the Borough report that business has been
boosted as a result and we would urge shoppers and businesses to
support the scheme and sign up.”
The Love Local Life card is being rolled out across 10 Cheshire
East towns in all, with Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Middlewich, Disley,
Congleton, Alsager and Sandbach already reaping the benefits.
To receive the full benefits customers need to register their cards
to receive the latest news and offers. For more information log on
to the Love Local Life website. The
card can also be downloaded as a free mobile phone APP. This can be
found in both in the iTunes app store or Android Marketplace by
searching for Love Local Life.
The closing date for the competition is February
10th. Postal nominations should be sent to: Love Local
Life Awards, 11 Marketplace, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 1EB. The
nomination should include the name and address of the shop and the
nomination category.
Testimonials
The Real Fire Company
Eileen Woods, of The Real Fire Company, said: “Love Local Life
has enabled our business to reach out to other towns and villages
in Cheshire East and is bringing people from other towns into
Disley. We have already had orders from people who found us
on the Love Local Life website and the scheme is new to
Disley.
Robert Burns, 37, who runs family business Burns Garages in Canal
Street, Congleton, said: “We’ve had several customers asking if we
are part of the scheme, so it’s obviously creating a bit of a buzz
around town. We’ve had interest mainly from existing
customers, but I’m sure it will encourage new customers as
well.”
The Cook Shop
Retailer David Casson, 57, who runs The Cook Shop in
Macclesfield, says the loyalty card has helped boost sales. He
said: “Our customers respond well to any sort of discount and so
this card works well for us. It’s really easy to be involved.
All we had to do was sign up for the year for a small fee and put
an advert in the shop letting customers know we were part of the
scheme.”
Arabella
Val Kotowski, who runs Macclesfield fashion outlet Arabella,
said: “Loyalty cards are definitely the way forward. They give
customers the reassurance that they’re getting a much better deal
than a shopper who doesn’t have the card. The discounts have to be
worth it.”
Gordon's Cards
David Jowle who runs Gordon’s Cards, in Mill Street,
Macclesfield, says the discount scheme works particularly well with
small purchases. We’ve been running our own discount card for some
time now and for every 10 cards bought, we give the customers a
free card. People like the discount and take advantage of it and it
encourages repeat business for us so we welcome a larger and wider
loyalty scheme.”
For more information on the scheme, either as a card-holder or
retailer wanting to participate, simply log on to the Love Local Life website.
