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:: Shop local challenge
Posted by Joelle on December 10, 2007
Listen up Kerry, Kirsty and Vanessa! And listen up dear blog readers, because I am about to issue the first Four Good Corners Challenge.
The idea for this comes from the people at Wedge Card, who this week have been challenging shoppers in East London to go for an entire week shopping only at local, independent shops. So I set you the same challenge. Do you think you can manage it? No chain stores, supermarkets or Clone Town high street chains. Instead support your local shops.
Why? Because it keeps your money in the community, rather than contributing to huge profits enjoyed by the big chains and their shareholders. Because independent shops are what gives your local area its own character. Because our small shops are being squeezed out by the homogeny of identikit streets across Britain full of all the same chain shops. And because its joyful to discover some great places, products and personalities that you won’t find in Tescos.
Check back here over the course of this week to see how the four of us at Four Good Corners get on with this challenge in our local shops of LA, London and Brighton. And if you fancy trying it yourself, do let us know how you fare. Discovered a brilliant new local shop? Can’t find icing sugar anywhere but the supermarket?
Wedge Card is the loyalty card system for local shops, set up by Big Issue founder John Bird. They now have over 500 local shops signed up, all offering special discounts to Wedge Card holders. They launched last year in London, but have plans to expand across the UK in the future.
Categories: challenge, shopping
Tags: challenge, local, shop local challenge, shopping, wedge card
Kirsty says:
December 10th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Challenge accepted!
Vanessa says:
December 10th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Okay then, I’ll see what I can do! I doubt Target sells crackers anyway…
:: Four Good Corners » We Love Local says:
December 12th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
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:: Four Good Corners » Contentious fruit… says:
December 12th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
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:: Four Good Corners » This is harder than I expected says:
December 12th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
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:: Four Good Corners » Reflecting on the shop local challenge says:
December 19th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
[…] week ago I set my fellow Four Good Corners bloggers, and any readers who cared to join in, the challenge to shop for a whole week only in local, independent shops. Of course I made the effort myself, and […]