Living Lerwick have been awarded £6,674 funding from the national Scotland Loves Local fund to help boost promotion of the popular local loyalty scheme – Spend at Da Street.
The application for funding was submitted earlier in the year with a focus on promoting the importance of the Buy Local message, which is a key priority for the Scotland Loves Local fund.
Local match funding was required to apply for the national grant. In September, Lerwick Community Council approved a grant of £1000 towards the cost of purchasing a marquee to host events on the Street and Shetland Island Council also approved a contribution of £2700 towards the marketing campaign. Levy income paid by town centre businesses is also used as match funding.
The success of the Peerie Spree in October indicates the purchase of a marquee for future events will be a worthwhile investment, and the Buy Local campaign which will launch this week in the lead up to Christmas will continue through 2022 to reinforce this important message.
Living Lerwick Chairman, Steve Mathieson, said “We are delighted that this funding has been approved at the level we requested. The fund was 2.5 times oversubscribed so being able to go ahead with everything we planned is great. The support from Lerwick Community Council and Shetland Islands Council has meant we have been able to attract a good sum of external funding to benefit our local businesses and economy.”
The project includes an extension to the Spend at Da Street loyalty scheme where shoppers are rewarded with stamps for purchases and entered into a monthly draw to win vouchers to spend at da Street. Forty four town centre businesses take part in this scheme and all contribute to the bumper Christmas prize draw where 6 customers will win prize packages worth up to £175.00. For 2021 this will be doubled to 12 prizes. During 2022 there will be four prizes of £50 awarded per month through to October.