Audio clip
Amy Walker Cherry
A shopping card initiative that started in Chattanooga three years ago is expanding to nearby Bradley County, Tenn.
Buy it Bradley is slated to kick off in early fall with up to 75 merchants expected to sign up by Christmas, according to Amy Walker Cherry, founder and chief executive of Buy it Local.
“We’re hoping it makes a big impact,” she said.
Buy it Local has licensed the card system to the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce, which will direct the program in that market, Cherry said.
Gary Farlow, the Chamber’s chief executive, said the shopping card makes a lot of sense to drive business to existing Bradley retailers.
“We hope to capture some of that gift card market,” he said. “It’s a good way to encourage people to do their gift spending” in Bradley.
The Chamber is utilizing the program as an added benefit to its members, and officials predict it can make a $1 million difference to Bradley’s economy over the next several years.
Farlow said the Chamber is using some of its recent capital campaign funds for Buy it Bradley.
The cards will be sold in denominations of $20 to $500 and can be used just like a prepaid gift card at merchant locations.
Cherry said the program also connects big businesses with smaller ones. The Chamber will offer cards to larger companies, which often give them to employees as a reward.
Dorris Shober, owner of Lupi’s Pizza Pies, said she has joined the Bradley Chamber so her Cleveland, Tenn., location can take part.
She said a lot of the gift cards are distributed to big companies and colleges. Some people at those sites may not have heard about Lupi’s, the businesswoman said.
“Getting them to walk in the door is the really big thing,” Shober said.
She said the likes the response the gift card program has had on her downtown Chattanooga restaurant.
Cherry launched the shopping card initiative in 2007 in Chattanooga. The aim of the program, called Buy it Downtown, was to spur shoppers to patronize downtown Chattanooga businesses.
Mike Pare, the deputy Business editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, has worked at the paper for 27 years. In addition to editing, Mike also writes Business stories and covers Volkswagen, economic development and manufacturing in Chattanooga and the surrounding area. In the past he also has covered higher education. Mike, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., received a bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida Atlantic University. he worked at the Rome News-Tribune before ...
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