Economic development commission bring Buy Close By project to all of rural Oxford
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After a successful pilot project in Norwich, the Rural Oxford Economic Development Commission (ROEDC) will be bringing its Buy Close By initiative to the rest of rural Oxford.
The initiative aims to raise awareness for the concept of buying locally, while also giving people the chance to win some prizes.
Economic development specialist Bernia Wheaton said people who want to participate in the program will have to get a punch card that they can use at any local store in one of the five participating townships, including Norwich, Southwest Oxford, Zorra, East-Zorra Tavistock and Blandford-Blenheim.
“Once their punch card is full they can submit it to any participating merchant or retailer and they can enter to win,” Wheaton said. “There are up to $1,000 worth in prizes to be won.”
The way the punch card works is that anytime a purchase over $10 or $20 is made the card will receive a punch. There are five spots on the card for both $10 and $20, meaning that a complete card represents a minimum of $150 spent locally.
This is the second time the ROEDC is holding the Buy Close By project, last year it was held only in Norwich and was very well received.
“We ran it in Norwich, which is a good sized town and we figured that it would give us an idea of how important it was to businesses and consumers to shop close by,” Wheaton said. “We had about 8,000 cards in circulation and over the eight week period we had just over 4,000 completed cards submitted for the grand prizes last year.”
Taking into account that each card represents a minimum of $150, those 4,000 cards would equate to a minimum of $600,000 spent locally in Norwich over that eight-week time frame.
“It could be 10 times (the minimum amount),” Wheaton said about the punch cards. “We have no idea for sure… but it gives us a rough idea, when we just spend $10 at a time on lunch or snacks at the gas station, it adds up and it makes a difference.”
When money is spent locally it tends to stay local. Wheaton said that when money is spent locally business owners can use it to pay wages or to buy supplies locally, among other things.
“Not every dime is going to stay local,” she said. “But when we start by spending locally, there is a greater chance that the dollar will stay in the community.
“(This is about) supporting the people that really make up a huge part of our community,” Wheaton added. “We can’t have minor sports a lot of times without sponsors, and we can’t have activities and events without local sponsors. This is our way of supporting the businesses that support us.”
The Buy Close By program will start in all rural Oxford communities on Nov. 25 and run until Dec. 31.
A list of all of the participating stores can be found on the ROEDC’s website at www.roedc.ca.