By MATT PIKE
In just two weeks, one of the most popular events hosted by the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce will return as Shop St. Joe begins on November 11th.
The annual holiday shopping event encourages residents to shop local by giving each shopper tickets with a chance to win $10,000. Additionally, the Chamber also offers the $2,500 small business bonus for shoppers who purchase goods from local area owned businesses.
Spokeswoman Kristi Bailey says the whole purpose of the program is keeping shopping local during the holiday season
"We started this 19 years ago before Amazon was so easy to use, at that time we were just trying to get people to stop going to Kansas City to do all their Christmas shopping, now we're fighting more of the online shopping," Bailey says on the KFEQmunnity shop. "So, Shop St. Joe is really to get people to do their Christmas shopping here to help support our local shop owners and the people they employee, all local residents, and also the money spent here helps with our local taxes."
Currently, the Chamber is seeking businesses to participate in Shop St. Joe. Bailey says this year the Chamber is also encouraging businesses outside retailers and restaurants to participate.
"If you are a contractor and you want to give away tickets for an estimate, or you want to give tickets as a thank you," Bailey explains. "Banks give out tickets for deposits, there are different ways to use Shop St. Joe besides what you would normally think of as a store or restaurant."
Businesses do not have to be associated with the Chamber to participate in the program. For more information about signing up or what it takes to participate you can visit the Chamber of Commerce's website or contact the Chamber.
Shop St. Joe will run November 11th through December 14th. The winners of the two prizes will be drawn on December 16th.
Interview
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