WITH the Streetscape almost complete and the Great Victorian Bike Ride about to hit town now is a good time to support your friends, neighbours and yourself, not large corporations or international companies.
The Buy Local Campaign was launched at the Rhythm Café and Restaurant on Thursday evening October 26 with a large number of business owners attending.
They were lucky at the beginning of the evening to receive an update on the street works and to be made aware that the contractors are on track and intent on providing them with a top quality new road and streetscape.
Shelley Brewer said that it was going to be exciting times ahead with the new street, some great events coming up, and a brilliant summer of trading and happy visitors.
“Our people are friendly and caring, our shops unique, and our surrounds are like nowhere else. This is what draws people to our area and keeps them returning, either for further holidays or as permanent residents,” Kate Pulham said.
The Campaign has been passionately driven by Kate and Shelley with support from the South Gippsland Shire Council, in particular Danielle Todoro and Claire Buckland, the Chamber of Commerce, and Graphic Designer Anne Miller.
“It’s time to invest in our community and help create a stronger and healthier Foster by keeping our money here,” said Kate.
She reiterates the saying that when you buy from a small business you’re not helping a CEO buy a third holiday home but you are helping a little girl get dance lessons, a little boy get his team jersey, a Mum or Dad put food on the table, a family pay a mortgage or a student pay for university.
Local businesses purchase from other local businesses, service providers and farms, keeping our money re-circulating for the benefit of our community.
They invest more in local labour, spend time on community-based decisions and help create local events. They sponsor local sporting clubs, cultural groups, emergency services, charities, schools, artists and other community groups. In doing so, they create more opportunity for everyone here in Foster looking after current and future generations.
It was noted that Foster retail businesses provide over 81 young members of the community with jobs and the opportunity to gain experience and employment in their hometown.
Foster is a thriving community when some communities are experiencing hardship.
This highlights the sense of community felt by all.
When you shop locally, you get to know the business owners and business owners get to know you. They want you to love their shops and to build a relationship with you by getting to know what you like and don’t like.
Local businesses help sustain a healthy and vibrant town centre – a hub where you can shop, eat and socialise, linking neighbours in a web of economic and social relationships. Our town centres are a place for connection and interaction making them a thriving marketplace of small businesses. It’s the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long term.
A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based not on a national sales plan but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices and provides more specific product knowledge.
One-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of Foster.
This unique character is what brought people here and will keep them here.
“Your continuing support of these local businesses will allow this community asset to continue into the future,” said Kate.
“It attracts tourists and will keep them coming back as they seek a destination that offers them a sense of being somewhere, not just anywhere, somewhere special, unique, distinctive … Foster!”
Local businesses are owned by people who live in the community and love Foster. They are more invested in the welfare and future of the whole community.
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