THUNDER BAY - As more COVID-19 restrictions lift and people return to in-person shopping and dining, the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce is reminding shoppers that spending money locally not only helps small businesses but everyone in the community.
“If you spend your dollars through internet sales through Amazon or other places, those dollars are gone,” said Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Charla Robinson.
“Now is especially the time when we need to be supporting our community to help those businesses recover from the pandemic so they can continue to support the jobs of our neighbours, the sports team for our kids, our daughter’s dance class, whatever that is. This is an especially important for people to choose TBay first, they need it more than ever.”
On Tuesday, the Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce launched its annual #ChooseTBayFirst campaign at the local restaurant, The Sal, encouraging people to shop local this holiday season.
The campaign is held every year but Robinson said with funding from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Community Economic Development Commission of Thunder Bay, this will be the biggest campaign to date.
“This time of year is obviously the biggest shopping season,” Robinson said. “People are just getting back into a little more regular life because of some COVID restrictions lifting, but they are also thinking about their holiday purchases and get together plans.”
“We really want them to remember all the of the businesses they maybe haven’t seen in a number of years because they have not been able to go to them. We want them to remember what wonderful businesses we have.”
Each week the Chamber will highlight a local business area with a video featuring owners and customers sharing their stories.
Aaron Gillingham, owner and operator of The Sal, participated in the video highlighting businesses in Westfort.
“It’s a weird loyalty Westfort has,” he said. “It’s like a resilience that has gone on for decades. It has this strong community vide to it and the businesses embody that.”
Gillingham added that shopping local is needed now more than ever because there are so many buying options, such as online shopping, that supporting local businesses is not always top of mind for consumers.
“Having something like this put on by the Chamber is a really cool way to prioritize small business here in town,” he said.
“The timing is good because people are able to walk into the stores and shop. Especially going into Christmas and the holiday season if we can get as many people shopping local with that same kind of mentality the better.”
The #ChooseTBayFIrst campaign runs until January 14, 2022 and starting on Nov. 15 there will be four weeks of contests on Facebook and Instagram. For more information and to view the videos visit the ChooseTBayFirst website.
