Businesses fly flag for local trade
WARWICK business owners received a grim warning about the consequences of people shopping out of town at the Shop Local Campaign on Tuesday night.
Boom Marketing's Debra Young painted a picture of her home town in Minnesota, where the main street was all but a ghost town after residents started travelling to the next city to do their shopping.
She described how a thriving city the size of Warwick lost out to a mall after it opened about an hour away from her home town, 23 years ago.
"We have no main street. We have to travel an hour to an hour and half if we want something - that is not convenient," she said.
But it wasn't all grim.
Ms Young described all of the things she loved about Warwick - including the beautiful main street - and why it was important to act now and encourage residents to shop in the Rose City.
Pure Heaven owner Justin Heaven said he applauded the council's initiative in getting the campaign up and running.
"It's a good platform but now it's up to local businesses to do something with it," he said.
"It's needs to be more than just a banner.
"We as the business community need to get together, whether we form a committee or something like that.
