Local Enterprise Office Waterford launched its ‘Shop Waterford, Support Local’ campaign in November to encourage Waterford shoppers to support local business in the run up to Christmas. It aims to put the spotlight on the vast array of retail and gift options within our county. From artists to designers, food producers to craft makers and everything in between that makes Waterford the first and last stop for Christmas shopping.  

Just because people can and do buy their Christmas gifts online it doesn’t mean they cannot support local businesses. In 2020 the Local Enterprise Offices approved over 13,000 Trading Online Vouchers which enabled small businesses to set up an online trading presence.

The local multiplier effect means that every €100 spent in the local economy is actually worth €500. Local spending can increase by that much because the money circulates in the local economy. It is spent on locally sourced goods and services and wages, which are also spent locally.

The LEO Waterford has used the opportunity to highlight some of its clients particularly well-matched for this time of year.

Gene O’Shea, founder and owner of O’Shea Jewellery, Amanda Murphy, artist and owner of Amanda Murphy Ceramics, Finbarr Power, founder and owner of Sampla Footwear and Lynn Cahill creator and owner of Humble Bee Wax Wraps all agree on the importance of local support.

Every €10 spent locally on Irish products generates more than €40 of benefit to the local community, and research that was carried out in November 2020 showed that Irish consumers were 83% more likely to look local for products and services in 2021.

Richie Walsh, Head of Enterprise, Local Enterprise Office Waterford, said the campaign aims to assist local businesses on the back of a challenging couple of years and encourage consumers to shop Waterford and support local. “The livelihood of many small businesses has been threatened during the pandemic.  However, many of these small business owners and sole traders took the initiative to move their business to include an online selling platform as well as the physical store. Now and in the run up to Christmas, we can browse in store and online when choosing to shop local.”

The ‘Shop Waterford, Support Local’ campaign, supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authorities, aims to raise awareness of the benefit of spending in your local area. This campaign seeks to strengthen that sentiment and to educate consumers on the domino effect that local spending has throughout their community. 

The ‘Shop Waterford, Support Local’ campaign follows the national ‘Look for Local’ communications campaign to encourage the public and businesses to seek out products and services from businesses in their local area.  The campaign was led by the Local Enterprise Offices and supported by Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment, Enterprise Ireland, and the Local Authorities.