Osoyoos residents are off and shopping! The first of five day-long registration events for the new Shop Local program was held at the BC Visitor Centre @ Osoyoos today, with a steady stream of residents coming in to sign up and get their free Shop Local membership card. The card entitles the member to discounts and special offers at over 100 participating local stores.

Destination Osoyoos announced earlier this month it has teamed up with Local Benefits – a company which recently began a discount shopping program in the region – to launch Shop Local, an 11-month discount program designed to boost local retail business and give an immediate stimulus to the town’s economy.

Destination Osoyoos will provide up to 1,500 Osoyoos households with one free membership each. The program ends on Jan. 31, 2010.

Destination Osoyoos Chief Executive Officer Glenn Mandziuk says he is pleased to see the strong kickoff for the local shopping program. “We will set up four more one-day registration kiosks around town between now and April 30 – and I hope hundreds of residents will come out to get their card and support their local business community,” Mandziuk says. “We want to get all 1,500 cards into the hands of local people, so they can benefit from the shopping discounts and so local retailers will get more exposure for their great goods and services.”

The four remaining one-day Shop Local registration events will be held:
• Thurs., March 26 (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) at Shoppers Drug Mart
• Tues. April 7 (7 a.m.-5 p.m.) at Smitty's Family Restaurant
• Wed., April 15 at the Sonora Community Centre
• Thurs., April 30 (Grand Finale) at an outdoor downtown location (to be decided) on Main Street

Mandziuk says research shows the local durable-goods market potential is over $31 million annually, with up to 50 per cent leaking out of the community and being purchased elsewhere. “With ‘Shop Local’, we want to create a new level of awareness among local residents about what local businesses have to offer, and encourage everyone to increase their local shopping.” Participating stores receive advertising and promotion carried out by the Shop Local program at no cost to the stores except for the discounts they give their Shop Local customers.

Shop Local program information, as well as a list of all participating Osoyoos businesses and their discounts, can be found on the Local Benefits website at www.localbenefits.ca. A wide range of businesses are taking part in Shop Local, including: restaurants, auto repair shops, confectionaries, ice cream shops, a golf course, the bowling alley, clothing stores, drug stores, furniture stores, and flower shops. Some of the discounts are for specific products or ‘buy-one-get-one-free’, but most are dollar or percentage discounts, such as 10 or 15 per cent. Mandziuk says Destination Osoyoos and Local Benefits will evaluate the success of Shop Local early next year and may consider launching it again in 2010.

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FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Glenn Mandziuk, Chief Executive Officer
Destination Osoyoos
Tel: 250-495-3366 Email: glenn@osoyoos.ca

The Destination Osoyoos Development Society is a non-profit grassroots organization committed to strengthening economic, physical, social and cultural conditions in the Osoyoos area. The goal of its Community Economic Development Strategy is to promote enhanced quality of life and a sustainable, diversified economy. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors representing diverse interests in the community.