AMT Public

2008 South West Market Town Awards Business & Economy Category Winner

‘Buy Local’ – promoting locally made products in the Warminster community area

Part of the problem small, independent suppliers of goods and services have in competing with the big multiples is that people are often not aware of their existence

Summary:

The idea behind the Warminster ‘Buy Local’ campaign is to increase awareness of the products from the community area that are available locally by creating and maintaining a directory and publicising details through leaflets and online. It aims to boost the local economy and minimise the distance that produce travels to point of sale.

The ‘Buy Local’ project was started in April 2006 by the Economy and Tourism Group of the Warminster and Villages Community Partnership (WVCP), to address a key goal in the Community Area Plan (CAPlan).

A directory with four main categories (food and drink; garden products; furniture; arts and crafts) was produced. It has now been updated 12 times and is available in the Town Council offices, Warminster Information Centre and the local library from November 2006. 77 businesses are featured in the directory.

To publicise the directory, leaflets and posters were placed in a wide range of outlets, a stand was taken at the West Wiltshire Show and there have been press articles. The group acquired web design skills to set up a website (www.westwilts-communityweb.com/site/wvcp-economy-and-tourism-group/index.htm) where the directory is available online.

More information: Mrs Chris Montagu (montagu@blueyonder.co.uk) Tel: 01985 301954

2009 update from Chris Montagu: Our Economy and Tourism Group (one pillar of the Warminster and Villages Community Partnership) continues to be very active since we won the Business and Economy Market Town Award for the South West Region in 2008. Our restrictions are the fact that we are a small group with not enough time to do what we we would like to do!

We are busy encouraging people to buy local, and the Directory of local products now contains 84 producers. We are currently updating our leaflets on Food and Drink, and Garden Products for 2009.

Meanwhile, we produced a Christmas Gift leaflet last October to encourage people to shop in Warminster for Christmas. The 25 participants were very positive about this particular initiative, although it is difficult to know with so many variables, including the downturn in the economy, how much of an impact the leaflet alone had on Christmas trade in Warminster. The Warminster Journal published an article, ‘Leaflet Boosts Town Trade’ that was good publicity for everyone.

We are gaining confidence in using publicity and write more about the importance of buying locally. We feel that in this economic climate it is becoming even more vital to use our local businesses, shops and services. This was a quote from our article in the Warminster Journal.

“We are fortunate to have a number of independent retailers in Warminster at the moment. There is no need for us to shop outside Warminster for many of our needs. It is so important for us all to make a positive decision to shop locally to support our businesses and help them to stay strong. Money spent in the area supports local jobs and improves the well-being of the community.”

“The recession has made buying local even more vital. We don’t know what the future holds. Increased transport costs and the measures required to combat climate change may mean we are not able to afford to travel so readily in the future. If we don’t support our local businesses now we could so easily lose them”.

We have plans this year to expand the scope of our leaflets by focussing on the local business parks to show what services and products they offer. We have not done any work on publicising services before. We feel that ‘use it or lose it’ is an apt adage when it comes to the prosperity of market towns.

Key partners: Warminster and Villages Community Partnership (WVCP) Economy and Tourism (E&T) Group, local producers across the Warminster Community Area , Warminster Information Centre, Town Council, Warminster Library, Warminster Journal, the Warminster Way, local businesses and public venues.

Keywords: loyalty scheme, promotional guide,promotion of local shopping, web site, business networks