A local coffee shop owner has partnered with a graphic designer to bring the 鈥渟hop local movement鈥� to Jasper.
Lynn Wannop, of Coco鈥檚 Cafe, has been watching the movement grow in other communities for a number of years, and this winter she decided it was time to get it started in her own community.
鈥淚 saw it on Commercial Drive in Vancouver and now, with searching, I鈥檝e found that Victoria鈥檚 doing it and Hinton is doing it. It鈥檚 sort of all over the place.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a really cool idea,鈥� she said, explaining that what the movement does is highlight the businesses that are locally owned and operated, so that consumers can make a conscious choice to support the business owners who live and work in town.
鈥淚 want people to understand how important it is to support local businesses, especially in a town that is so slow in the winter,鈥� said Wannop. 鈥淎s a business owner, it鈥檚 hard for many of us to make ends meet in the winter.鈥�
In a letter that she鈥檚 circulating to business owners, Wannop explains how shopping locally can benefit the community: 鈥淚ncrease in money spent locally creates a ripple effect as businesses and their employees in turn spend their earnings locally. This creates a cycle where a higher percentage of every dollar spent at locally-owned businesses gets redeployed back into our community.鈥�
That, she said, can lead to more viable long-term jobs, more companies doing business in Jasper and pressure on local government to fill the demand for affordable housing.
To get the movement rolling, Wannop is asking locally owned and operated businesses to join her in a marketing effort to help educate people about shopping locally. To join, Wannop is asking businesses to pay a fee that will go toward the design and printing of stickers, posters and brochures that highlight each business.
Creating the stickers, posters and brochures is local graphic designer Melissa Morris and doing the printing is Tekkara Color.
To start, Wannop said she needs 10 businesses to join the movement in order to cover the costs.
鈥淚鈥檓 not out to make money on this,鈥� she said, noting that if there is money leftover, it will either go toward more brochures or the cost of doing it the following year.
Wannop said she hopes to have at least 10 businesses signed up and ready to rock by mid-January, so the brochures and stickers can be out by Feb. 1.
To learn more about the project or to join the movement, contact Wannop at [email protected].
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
