Where You Shop Matters – Let’s Make It Count
Bear Market Coffee, a local business located on Dublin’s George’s Street, is quite the spot for coffee lovers. With a belief that where you enjoy your coffee is just as important as what’s in the cup, their core mission is to provide great coffee in a space that makes everyone who walks through the door feel inspired, revitalised, and above all, welcome.
Local businesses like Bear Market Coffee are unique, not just for the quality of their coffee, but also in terms of the impact they have on the communities they serve. They are often champions of local makers and suppliers, offering products and services that simply can’t be found anywhere else.
COVID-19 has had a severe impact on many of the small businesses we know and love so well. While many have had to close their doors, the resiliency they have shown throughout the pandemic has been admirable. From adapting their operating model to taking parts of their business online, small businesses have gone above and beyond in order to keep serving their customers.
Local businesses across Ireland have really stepped up when we needed them, and as many of them begin to open their doors following the relaxing of restrictions over the festive period, now is our chance to show our support by buying local this Christmas. Where you shop really does matter, and by supporting the unique and wonderful businesses in our local areas, we can help them get back on their feet and build for recovery.
At Visa, we are committed to playing our part. Our Where You Shop Matters campaign is a long-term commitment that recognises the essential role that local businesses play in our communities. This Christmas, our campaign aims to champion local businesses by pulling back the curtain to show what your custom means to businesses like Fresh & Wild, Jill & Gill, and Bear Market Coffee. By highlighting the little moments that make a big difference, we hope to encourage consumers to support local over the holidays.
The good news is that research commissioned by Visa has shown that Irish consumers are already pledging their support to businesses in their community over the festive season, with more than half (52%) of the public saying they will do most, if not all, of their shopping with local stores1. Ultimately, it’s clear that towns and villages across Ireland benefit from the businesses that make them so unique.
Considering what a challenging year it has been, it is heartening to see people rallying around their local communities. We are keen to drive this further through our partnership with Champion Green, a national movement aimed at celebrating the small businesses that form the backbone of the Irish economy in a bid to drive the national recovery after COVID-19.
Continuing this support at Christmas – and beyond – will have a profound impact, not only in helping our communities, but to build back better. So let’s celebrate the best of local business over the festive season by supporting them where we can.
To read the insights from our research, click here.
1 Research commissioned by Visa and conducted online by RED C with a nationally representative sample of 1,004 Irish adults aged 18+ between 20th and 25th November 2020.