Mayo public encouraged to 'Shop Local' this Christmas

2024 has been a tough year for small local businesses here in Mayo with many finding it difficult to keep their heads above water amid constant cost of living challenges.

Over the next couple of weeks, the Mayo public will be spending a lot of their hard earned cash in preparation for Christmas and it is really important that we try our best to spend our money locally and support those local businesses that keep our towns and villages thriving.

ISME, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise group, is asking consumers in Mayo to consider shopping local this year to support their own communities and help maintain a vibrant buzz along main streets. With only a few weekends of shopping to go, ISME is reminding consumers that every €1 spent locally on their Christmas shop could generate up to €4 in their community.

Shopping locally for goods and services returns multiples of the customers spend back to the community and helps local businesses maintain jobs in Irish towns and villages.

ISME is urging customers to ensure that they devote a proportion of their Christmas shopping to local bricks-and-mortar or ‘Irish’ online stores, leaving only those hard-to-find gifts that can't be sourced elsewhere to be purchased from larger multinational companies.

Meaningful impact

Neil McDonnell, Chief Executive at ISME, said: “We are hoping that consumers in Mayo will bring some Christmas cheer to Irish retailers this year and decide to shop locally. By consciously choosing to buy locally, even a portion of our purchases can have a meaningful impact, as each euro spent locally can generate two, three, or even four times its value in community wealth. This Christmas, we must take the opportunity to support local retailers and hospitality providers. Making these choices can even lead to time, money, and effort being saved and can even reduce our environmental footprint by keeping some of our festive spending close to home.”

To help people make local choices this Christmas, ISME has created two online portals – one for consumers and one for businesses. Consumers can browse a variety of categories such as activities and entertainment, fashion, food and drink, retail, and Irish breaks which offer gift ideas for Christmas and showcases local businesses. For businesses, they can access a directory of B2B products and services such as corporate gifts, legal and financial services, IT and marketing, transport, training and more. For more see https://isme.ie

Geraldine Horkan and Dermott Langan of Westport Chamber of Commerce enlisted the help of Paddington Bear to launch the 'Shop Local' campaign in Westport.

Council support

Mayo County Council have also tried to encourage consumers to shop locally by providing free car parking in towns across the county during the festive period. Westport Chamber of Commerce are also running a 'Shop Local' campaign and their €5,000 shopping spree is a campaign that is also very much worth supporting.

With over 100 retail and hospitality businesses taking part, look out for participating retailers displaying the 'Westport Shop Local' poster. All you need to do is spend €20 and receive a free entry to be in with a chance of winning up to €1,000 worth of shopping vouchers.

All our local businesses provide vital employment across the county and your support goes a long way to ensuring they remain viable and can look forward to a prosperous 2025.