Moray’s top politicians from Westminster and Holyrood have backed our #ForresLovesLocal campaign to highlight the importance of supporting our local businesses at this crucial time.
MP Douglas Ross and MSP Richard Lochhead have both stressed that local shops and businesses need the support of the community more than ever to keep our high streets thriving.
Most businesses have been shut or down-scaled for more than three months, and now that they’re starting to open again, Forres Local will keep reminding people to shop near to home.
Douglas Ross said: “This shop local campaign is essential for the town and I’m giving it my full backing. We are extremely lucky to have such great local shops in Forres and it’s vital that we support them to keep our High Street busy and vibrant.
“One of the few positives to come out of this pandemic has been people using more local shops. They were there for us when we needed them, now we can return the favour. Instead of reverting to old habits we should all support our local shops as much as possible.”
Forres Local is promoting the campaign through its website and social channels, and shops in the high street are already joining in by displaying posters and sharing the message on their own social channels.
Challenging times
Richard Lochhead added: “It’s been an incredibly challenging time for our local shops and high streets, with many small businesses really struggling due to the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown.
“The good news is that our local shops are now reopening, with social distancing and hygiene measures in place, to keep us safe. Our local shops need the support of the community more than ever and by choosing to shop locally, we can help get them back up and running and keep our high streets thriving.
“We have so many fantastic shops in Forres and across Moray and I would encourage people to support these businesses by shopping local as much as they can. And of course, everyone should remember to wear their face covering and stick to physical distancing when doing their shopping.”
The #ForresLovesLocal campaign is designed to create a buzz around shopping locally as we come out of lockdown. We’re visiting shops in person to hand out posters and leaflets.
Marc Hindley from Forres Local said: “The main aim of the campaign is get people to start shopping in town, and just move outwards until they find what they want. We’ve had a really positive response and we know people are very passionate about the ‘shop local’ message. The lockdown has helped us all discover what’s on our doorstep, but shops and businesses have mountains to climb. They’ve had to put safety measures in place, limit the number of people in shops, and such like, all of which slow down business at a time when they’ve not been able to trade for three months.”
And there are more ideas to come, which we’ll be announcing over the coming weeks. We know that this needs a continuous and consistent approach, so stick with us.
Use the hashtag or slogan in your posts, your shop windows, on receipts, or anywhere else to flag up your support. For those of you on social media, tell people what you’ve bought, or ask where you get something locally. The hashtag flags up your posts to us, so we can spread the love that Forres has for its local shops and businesses.
Related posts: Now is the time to really show that Forres Loves Local
