Spark Local Blog | by Giverrang

Company aims to boost local spending and bring attention to small businesses  Bristol, Connecticut FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: A New England startup company has just launched 209 different community gift card programs in Maine – each specific to a town or city.  The programs offer unique targeted support to local businesses since the gift card can be spent at any independent business in that particular town or city but not at big chains like McDonald's or Wal-mart ( see list of ME card programs ).  The company behind the programs is Connecticut-based Giverrang, which builds Community Gift Card programs for towns and cities to drive spending to small businesses and keep more dollars local. “The whole idea is to funnel more dollars and attention to small businesses,” explained Mark Walerysiak Jr., Head of Card Programs at Giverrang. “The big guys have the benefit of having huge resources behind them so we really want to help the small guys as much as possible.” Interested buyer...

  Every economic developer wants their community to be vibrant and their small businesses to thrive. But why is it easier in some locations than others? The main reason is culture. That elusive little word is often the difference between the local business environment succeeding and failing.  In places that are born and bred off the back of local products like Portland, ME, a shop local culture is ubiquitous in the fabric of every food or retail shop you walk into. But that foundation was laid from somewhere - decades of emphasis on local sourcing and production. Generations now inherently understand its importance to the way of living in the area. If your community does not have as fortunate a starting point, the best way to create a public understanding of why it is good to shop local, and to set a perpetual flywheel of support in motion for it, is to kindly assault the public with programs that adjust the psychological tenor in favor of a shop local culture.  It's in t...