Vancouver Island retailers say sales are up as buy-local push pays off
CTV
Retailers up and down Vancouver Island have a reason to celebrate this Christmas season. Sales are up, as the push to shop local is taking hold and driving sales.
In downtown Nanaimo, parking is at premium and stores are full of Christmas shoppers.
“I always try to shop local,” said one shopper at Flying Fish in downtown Nanaimo.
“I think there’s a real concerted effort by shoppers to specifically buy local,” said Kim Smythe, president and CEO of the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce.
When the pandemic hit, many shoppers turned to online retailers and that hurt brick-and-mortar retailers hard.
With that in mind, this year local businesses are noticing many are choosing to keep their money in the community and to support local businesses. That seems to be paying off for retailers.
“We’re seeing the result of that,” said Scott McLeod, manager at Flying Fish. “Lots of great stuff selling and it’s been a really great year.”
In Duncan, local retailers are seeing the same push to buy local and that means big sales gains over last year.
“It’s definitely up by 25 to 30 per cent this year over last,” said Patricia Vollmann-Stock, store manager at Fabrications in downtown Duncan.
