“We all benefit from a thriving community.”
The new Shop ABC Gift Card can be spent with shops, restaurants, salons, attractions and hotels – it’s available as either a physical or digital card.
A brand-new gift card, exclusively for the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough, has now gone live, making it easier than ever for people to support local businesses.
Backed by Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, the Shop ABC Gift Card can only be spent with registered businesses in the area, locking spend into local economies and driving footfall.
The Shop ABC Gift Card is available as either a physical card that is swiped at the till or a digital card that is added to digital wallets enabling ‘tap to pay’ technology.
Over 150 businesses across the borough already accept the card with more joining the scheme each day.
Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough, Alderman Stephen Moutray said: “We’re proud to launch the Shop ABC Gift Card to power local economies within our city, town centres and villages. With the card, we have a local option for gifts, rewards and incentives. I encourage everyone to look at how they can use the card for the benefit of our borough, from organisations rewarding staff to charities supporting service users or people buying as gifts for the end of term, birthdays and beyond.”
Local businesses are welcoming the launch of the gift card. Chris Dalzell of Dalzells of Markethill said: “We’re a family run business that has been in operation for almost 70 years, based in a rural location, with delivery across the island of Ireland. Local businesses are the lifeblood of the community, giving their support to all manner of local clubs and charities, and the Shop ABC Gift Card is a fantastic way for people to show their support for local businesses in return. We all benefit from a thriving community. Everything we can do to promote local shopping is hugely positive and we look forward to accepting the new gift card across our full range – home appliances to beds and furniture.”
Another independent business accepting the card is Gasp Boutique owner Ann said: “The boutique is family run with nearly 25 years in Armagh, specialising in casuals, shoes, occasion wear and mother of the bride outfits. Independent businesses all employ local people so the Shop ABC Gift Card that encourages people to shop with their local businesses is brilliant. I like the fact that it will be easy for people to spend like a regular gift card, but locking spend into the area. Many people pay using their phones now, so the digital version is great, especially for encouraging the younger generation to shop local. I’d love to see larger organisations using the card to reward their staff – what a great way to show their support for local.”
Alongside products, Shop ABC Gift Card recipients can also spend their gift card on a range of experiences and services.
Rachel McDonald, practice manager at Mackey Opticians in Portadown commented: “Mackey Opticians is a family run, independent opticians – the largest in Northern Ireland. As soon as I heard about the card, I said ‘sign us up’ because I think it’s a great idea. Not only will it benefit our business it will benefit our neighbouring businesses. And it will be a really nice thing for customers to spend too, both on products and services. The ability to use the Shop ABC Gift Card in a practical way on things like new glasses or an eye test is a huge benefit and means the cards will be well used and ideal as both gifts and corporate rewards. I really like the community feel of it too – the high street is so important, and the Shop ABC Gift Card will help support it.”
Colin Munro, Managing Director of Miconex, said: “Support for local is extremely strong in Northern Ireland with over 92% of people saying it has become more important to them over the past 12 months and 95% believing that more needs to be done to support local businesses. The Shop ABC Gift Card is the ultimate ‘shop local’ Gift Card for the area, and a fun, easy to use way to support local businesses.”
The physical or digital Shop ABC Gift Card is available to buy for consumers and organisations at https://townandcitygiftcards.com/product/shop-abc-gift-card/
