Buying local made easy

NOW more than ever, Ballarat residents are opting to buy local produce, goods and services in support for the community.

As we adjust to another round of lockdown, many small and independently owned businesses are finding it financially difficult to continue trade.

To remedy this widespread small business downfall, Facebook pages, groups and search engines are popping up all over the internet with the common aim of lending a helping hand.

One of such is the newly established Local Search, the Australian wide search engine for locally owned and operated businesses.

Created and operated from Queensland, the search engine will spit out suggestions for your specifications in your proximity complete with comparable information, ratings and pricing.

A little closer to home, Facebook page Buy Local Ballarat makes it easy for customers by promoting small, grass-roots enterprises to the group.

Run by resident and boutique owner Andrea Hurley who said she started it during the first lockdown in the hopes of growing a supportive community to promote small business.

“Many businesses won’t survive this second round of lockdown, but if the community can be more mindful of shopping small and local, it will definitely help us get through this,” she said.

“We now have over 1200 engaged followers so for anyone who reaches out, I’ll promote your business for free.

“Supporting local and collaborating with other business is a really important part of our survival.”

Not only is supporting our regions stores and services good for local economies, it has meaningful flow on affects for owners and workers.

Commerce Ballarat’s chief executive officer Jodie Gillett said because of the almost 8000 job losses due to the pandemic, now more than ever, we need to protect the jobs we have so businesses can recover.

“We have over 600 businesses who are members of Commerce and a directory on our website so it’s easy to find a particular product or service,” she said.

“We need our community to think about every purchase they make and attempt to buy local at every opportunity because it’s never been easier.

“When you buy local, your protecting your family members, neighbours and friends.”

Although many businesses have closed either temporarily or permanently, Ms Gillett said that the level of resilience in our community is humbling to witness.

“Many businesses are innovating to deliver services in a different way,” she said.

“It’s not happening at the same level in many other places, so we’re very fortunate that we have such a resilient and strong business community.”