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“When you spend here, it stays here.”
In advance of the upcoming holiday season, Greater St. Louis, Inc. — through its STLMade initiative — has kicked off its 2024 Love Local campaign to promote shopping at local small businesses throughout the St. Louis metro.
- Supporting and strengthening small businesses is essential to driving inclusive economic growth across the St. Louis metro.
- Small businesses represent the majority of firms throughout the region, employing almost half of the metro’s workforce.
- As identified in the STL 2030 Jobs Plan, building a world-class small business ecosystem that holistically supports entrepreneurs is critical to the growth and success of not just those businesses, but the regional economy.
Major Impact
“The goal of Love Local is to rally the support and dollars of everyone in our community behind our small businesses and showcase the role we all play in growing St. Louis,” said Jason Hall, CEO of Greater St. Louis, Inc. “We want to make sure people across the 15-county bi-state St. Louis metro know that when we spend here, it stays here.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our community and our economy,” added Hall. “Every dollar someone spends at a small business in their community not only helps that business grow, it also helps that business support local parks, youth sports teams, and any number of initiatives and organizations in their community that strengthen the very fabric of our region.”
Metro-Wide Campaign
The Love Local campaign, which runs through the weekend of Small Business Saturday, includes paid broadcast media, social media, outdoor, and print advertising, reminding the St. Louis metro that shopping and gifting locally not only boosts the local economy, but supports the livelihoods of friends and neighbors. This year, it also includes print ads in local newspapers metro-wide that serve the region’s chambers of commerce.
A web page offers inspiration for shopping, eating, and gifting locally, while a Love Local toolkit is available for small business owners, complete with downloadable assets like graphics (including customizable options), a video, posters, and stickers they can use to harness the Love Local movement.