Shoppers rewarded for staying local

Shoppers in Armley and Pudsey will soon be rewarded for staying local thanks to a new reward card scheme being launched this week.

The ‘Shop Local’ reward card is a first for both towns and is designed to encourage more shoppers to use the local retailers.

Media opportunity:
The Shop Local reward card will be launched on:
Friday 29 January 2010 at 11am outside the library in Pudsey and at 12 noon at the compass forecourt in Armley.
Nigel Conder the Town Centre Manager for both towns will be joined by local councillors, businesses and retailers to launch the new shop local card. Members of the media are invited to attend to find out more about the scheme.

Shoppers can collect a reward card from participating retailers and will then need to collect six stamps from six different retailers over the month. Once their card is full they either post it back or bring it in person to either the Armley or Pudsey One Stop Centre and post it in the box provided. At the end of the month a draw will take place and the winner will receive £50 of vouchers to spend in their respective towns at participating retailers.

People can enter as many times as they like, so there is no limit to the number of chances to win, and there is no minimum spend limit to receive a stamp.

There are 30 retailers who are supporting the scheme in Pudsey and 32 in Armley. Retailers who are participating in the scheme will display a poster in their shop so they can be easily identified.

Nigel Conder, Town Centre Manager for Armley and Pudsey said:
“This is a one of a kind scheme which not only gives local shoppers a chance to win vouchers every month, it will also encourage more people to use our excellent local retailers and in doing so, boost the local economy.”

In addition to the new reward card scheme businesses in the Pudsey Business Forum have developed a Pudsey shop local magazine and website.

Steve Lightfoot, Chairman of Pudsey Business Forum said:
"2009 was a tough year for retailers in Pudsey and especially small independent retailers.

“We needed to do something to counteract all the negatives and working together seemed to be the right way to go about it. So businesses got together to form the small business forum and we decided, with help from the Pudsey Town Centre Manager, to launch three projects. A magazine which would be produced at cost price to promote the shops, a website which will have free advertising for local shops and a reward card scheme where shoppers can win £50 worth of local shopping vouchers. As far as shops are concerned it only costs £20 to get involved in all three projects.”

The business forum meets every month and any shop owner or manager can come along to the meetings. Meetings are every last Wednesday in the month at Café Atlanta in Pudsey.

The website shopinpudsey.co.uk is being launched on Friday 29th January and will enable members of the public to find out more about what shops Pudsey has to offer. The website will give members of the public plenty of information but the best way of course if to make a visit to the shops themselves.

The new quarterly magazine, Shop Local, is aimed at building the profile of shops and businesses in and around Pudsey. The magazine has been complied on a totally ‘not for profit’ basis by members of the forum themselves, in order to give businesses a chance to advertise to the local community in a full size glossy magazine.

Nigel Conder, added:
“There are some great shops in Pudsey, some old established businesses and some very new ones, the magazine and website will be great tools for these businesses to demonstrate what this town has to offer.

“Pudsey has a wealth of skills and services and the forum members are working hard to raise the profile of their town. The magazine and website show just how committed they are to doing this. They have given their time freely to produce these in record time”

Because there are no design fees or sales people to pay, every single penny goes into printing costs. The first edition – launched in December 2009 was 12 pages and took 3 weeks from start to finish. 4000 copies were produced and are being distributed around LS28, in bars, waiting rooms, shops, Dentist and Doctors surgeries, the library, One Stop Shop, and the Leisure Centre.

Rachel Jolley from Red, an embroidery and print business in Pudsey – who have produced the magazine, said:
“The magazine speaks for itself and businesses can see that they are getting true value for money. We would like to build on the distribution over time, and make it something that the community look forward to getting hold of.”

The forum will be releasing four issues per year, and aim to, if possible increase distribution to at least 20,000 by the end of the year. The next issue will be out in March 2010.

ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact:
Emma Whittell, Leeds City Council Press Office, on (0113) 2474713
Email: emma.whittell@leeds.gov.uk