Shopping local is an important part of supporting our local Utah economy. You've likely heard the phrase “buy local” countless times. And as we are on the heals of Shop Local Saturday, it's likely you've noticed the emblems on store windows, but have you ever thought about what it actually means? You're buying local anytime you purchase something from an independent business, artisan or farm.
These are the local stores offering a discount mentioned in the KUTV segment, just be sure to mention you saw our spotlight on KUTV to save an extra 10%:
Tutoring Toy – Toys for all ages. Some make right here in Utah!
The Old Flamingo – Artist co-op with a huge array of one of a kind items.
Home Again Consignments – Beautiful hand picked on of a kind items.
Honey Stop – discount in Wasatch Savings Book. Fun and informative Beekeeper for hire.
How to Save Money When Shopping Local
Buying local provides an economical boost to our economy as well as providing important jobs for our residents. Plus, often the products are better quality and offer a unique flair. We all love the idea of shopping local right? However, lets face it, it can be more expensive to patronize your favorite local shop as opposed to finding similar products online or in big box stores. Here's a few tips I've discovered to help you discover local shops and save some money along the way.
1- Follow your favorite local shops social media pages. You'll be surprised at how often they offer discounts for their fans.
2- Sign up for their email alerts. If the store has them make sure to sign up. Many small shops routinely offer subscribers special coupons and send out news about sales events. The shops at Gardner Village, for example, send out a monthly email with many coupons for the various shops.
3- Check out Yelp.com: You're not likely to find your favorite small merchant advertising with a large deal site like Groupon. It's just too expensive for them. However, Yelp.com offers them an affordable alternative for deal listings. To find the merchants in your area simply enter your location in the search box and then set the filter check box to “offering a deal”.
4- Check your print ads. This kind of advertising is much less expensive for your local shops and an awesome way to discover new businesses. Great resources for coupon savings for you local shops are as close as your newspaper (best deal for SL Tribune and Deseret News found here). You won't usually find these in the ad section but scattered among the pages of the stories.
There's tons of local shops that run special coupons in your local newspaper like the Utah Journals (comes in the mail for Salt Lake Area homes), City Weekly (free at various retailers, restaurants and gas stations), The Ogden Source (comes in the mail for Ogden residents) and the Park City Record are just a few of the great places to find news about savings for your local shops. Your blue Valpak envelope and Money Mailer is a great resource for local coupons. And your monthly Value Pages has some great coupon in it. Since these publications are zoned by location, they are a fantastic place to find offers and news from the local shops in your area.
And, don't forget to utilize your Wasatch Savings Guide (code here $30.00) and Entertainment Book (deal here $19.00). There is a treasure trove of local businesses waiting for you to discover in both these books.
5- Look for a Tablet at the Cash Register: There are a plethora of apps that help local shops offer customers various savings buy simply checking in. If you notice a table at the register, it's likely that the shop you're at has such an app. The cashier might not always remember to tell you. So make sure to ask what it's for.
6- Check your local online business directory. GoDavis.biz and Merco Local, for example, are actually business listings and great resource for finding a local shop. But, did you know there are also coupon offers on them.
7- Get familiar with FourSquare, a social media app. that allows users to share local places they are hanging out at with friends. You can often find deals, coupons and offers just by searching for those keywords.
8- Check the Coupons4Utah Coupon Mall: Take a browse through our very own local Coupon Mall. Where we are busy hunting down coupons from all the resources we can find.
Buy Local First Utah urges people to commit to doing 10% off their holiday shopping Local; doing so will really help boost our economy. That's only $10 for $100 you spend! I bet we can do better than that. Check Buy Local First for a large variety of wonderful local shops in your area.
Happy Shopping
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