Just Credit Union staff encouraging people to join ‘shop local’ challenge this Christmas

Tuesday 16 January 2024

With high street shops across the county facing an ever more challenging time, Just Credit Union based in Shropshire has pledged to try and help.

Amy Jones, Office Manager at Just Credit Union, said she and friends would be attempting to ‘buy everything’ from local shops for this Christmas. She is also asking residents of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to join her challenge.

“I realised just how challenging things are for lots of our local shops and businesses so decided to take on the challenge of buying everything from them for Christmas,” Amy said. “I hope this will help keep businesses open and employing people. Through buying locally, money will circulate in our community and not disappear to the large corporates based elsewhere.”

Research on spending by local authorities shows that for every £1 spent with a small or medium sized business, 63p stayed in the local economy compared to 40p with a larger business.

Through shopping online or out of town only 5p trickles back into the local economy. Amy said: “Just Credit Union is very much community based and what people save with us is what we lend to those who live or work in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin. Any profit is shared between our members so all the money circulates in and supports our local economy. I do hope lots of other people will join me in this challenge.”