Chamber Encouraging Tallahassee to ‘Shop Local’

In the spirit of the holidays, the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce is opening up one of its most popular member benefits to the entire business community. From now until the end of the year, the Chamber is making available coupons in its exclusive Member-to-Member Discount program to all local business owners and their employees, whether they are Chamber members or not.

“This is an incredible opportunity for non-member businesses to experience a bottom-line benefit of Chamber membership through the holiday season,” said Chamber President Sue Dick. “These discounts are great for the user, of course, and the business offering the coupon, but it also impacts the entire community by encouraging residents to shop locally.”

With shopping options that include home-shopping networks, mail-order catalogs and seemingly endless discount sites on the Internet, one may wonder why the emphasis on driving to a local store or ordering off a locally based website instead.

The answer is simple, according to Dick. “Locally owned businesses return about 70 percent of each dollar spent back into the community, compared to around 40 percent for chain stores and basically zero if you order online,” she said. “More money in the local business community means a larger revenue base for local services. From schools and roads to public safety and community welfare, we all benefit when our dollars stay at home.”

Chamber members are excited about opening up the discount program during the holidays, because it helps people during a tough time and helps support other business owners, too, Dick said. “Our members understand the value of the many businesses in our community and are anxious to support one another whenever possible,” she said. “And for the rest of this month, everyone can take advantage of these incentives.”

Many of the coupons available through the program are for discounts on holiday-related goods and services that may make a busy schedule a little more manageable. For instance, there are coupons for dining, lodging, home cleaning, unique gifts, catering and even personal fitness for after the holidays are over.

To search for coupons that can make your holiday more joyous — and contribute to the local economy — go to chamber.clientwebstage.com. From there, simply click on Member Center and Member-to-Member Coupons. Then explore, choose and save.

To learn about getting full member benefits all year long, call Amy Lindner, the Chamber’s  manager of member recruitment and retention, at (850) 224-8116 or email her at alindner@chamber.clientwebstage.com.

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