While much of the focus has understandably been on the health implications caused by COVID-19, the resulting economic emergency has hit our communities just as hard.
This is especially true of small and medium-sized businesses.
Many local stores and restaurants in Sault Ste. Marie have struggled to adapt to the ‘new normal’, attract customers, and get their products online through available, and sometimes costly, avenues.
To help local small businesses during the pandemic, Community First, a Division of Your Neighbourhood Credit Union has launched a creative solution to help mitigate the financial toll on local businesses caused by COVID-19 while providing a hub of information for shoppers and the opportunity to drive more awareness shop owners.
Introducing Shop Your Neighbourhood.
Shop Your Neighbourhood brings local retailers and community members together by creating a virtual shopping district where people can shop safely online at participating businesses.
Shoppers who visit the virtual shopping district can swipe through local digital storefronts where they’ll have the option to shop products or services online or simply leave a tip to show support.
This new Community First shop local initiative has been under development throughout the fall. Community First teams have gathered imagery and information to bring local virtual neighbourhoods to life.
Virtual storefronts are built for businesses making it easy for them to set up and start selling.
This is a free service for businesses and those participating have complete access to their online storefront. Businesses with an existing e-commerce site can migrate their storefront is a matter of minutes. For new stores added to the neighbourhood, creating a virtual storefront takes less than a day.
Community First plans to continually add more neighbourhoods to the platform to promote local businesses and the safety of community members. If you’re interested in participating in Shop Your Neighbourhood or are looking for more information, click here.