Love GFW
Choose Local. Love Local.
Behind every local business is a neighbour.
A family.
An employee.
An entrepreneur who decided to invest in Grand Falls-Windsor.
LOVE GFW would be a community-wide initiative led by Downtown GFW encouraging residents, businesses and organizations to make a conscious choice to support local whenever possible.
The message isn’t complicated:
Before you click. Before you leave town. Before you order from somewhere else see if you can find it here first.
Because where we spend our money helps determine what kind of community we have tomorrow.
The LOVE GFW Pledge
Residents would be invited to make a simple commitment:
I LOVE GFW
I pledge to think local first.
When possible, I’ll choose locally owned businesses, restaurants, services and experiences.
I’ll explore businesses I’ve never visited.
I’ll recommend great local businesses to friends and family.
I’ll share and celebrate the people doing great things in our community.
And when I have a choice, I’ll remember that spending locally isn’t simply a transaction.
It’s an investment in Grand Falls-Windsor.
Businesses Can Take the Pledge Too
Shop local shouldn’t only apply to consumers.
Local businesses are significant purchasers themselves.
Participating businesses could take the LOVE GFW Business Pledge:
We pledge to THINK LOCAL FIRST.
Where practical, we’ll seek quotes from local suppliers and service providers before purchasing elsewhere.
We’ll look for opportunities to work with other local businesses.
We’ll encourage our employees and customers to discover what’s available locally.
And we’ll help promote the businesses and people making Grand Falls-Windsor a great place to live, work and do business.
This creates something bigger than a consumer advertising campaign.
Local businesses start supporting other local businesses.
Look for the LOVE GFW Heart
Participating businesses would receive a recognizable LOVE GFW window decal.
❤️ PROUD LOVE GFW BUSINESS
Over time, the heart becomes something residents recognize around town.
See the heart?
You’re supporting a business committed to supporting the community.
Businesses could also receive LOVE GFW graphics for websites and social media so hundreds of businesses aren’t individually trying to create their own shop-local messaging.
Meet the People Behind Local
One of the biggest parts of LOVE GFW should be storytelling.
Not advertisements.
People.
Each week, LOVE GFW could introduce another entrepreneur, employee or family behind a local business.
MEET LOCAL
This is Sarah.
She employs six people.
Her kids go to school here.
She sponsors local teams.
And every morning she unlocks the doors to a business she built right here in Grand Falls-Windsor.
That’s what shopping local supports.
Instead of constantly telling people to shop locally, we show them who they’re supporting when they do.
The LOVE GFW Challenge
Periodically, residents could be challenged to deliberately discover somewhere new.
This week: Visit one local business you’ve never been inside before.
Next challenge:
Have lunch somewhere local.
Then:
Buy your next gift locally.
Or:
Leave a positive Google review for a local business you love.
Or:
Share your favourite hidden gem using #LoveGFW.
Small actions become a community movement.
LOVE GFW Local Gift Card
The program could eventually introduce something much bigger:
THE LOVE GFW CARD
One gift card.
Dozens of local businesses.
Instead of buying someone a gift card that locks their spending into one national retailer, a LOVE GFW Card could allow the recipient to choose among participating local restaurants, retailers, services and experiences.
That keeps the gift and the money, circulating within the community.
It could become a particularly powerful Christmas program and an attractive option for employers purchasing staff gifts.
Give Local
Christmas should become the biggest LOVE GFW campaign of the year.
GIVE THE GIFT OF LOCAL
Downtown GFW could produce a digital GFW Local Gift Guide featuring:
Under $25
Under $50
For Kids
For Him
For Her
Experiences
Food & Treats
Last-Minute Local
Instead of telling residents “Shop Local,” we make shopping locally easy.
LOVE GFW Week
Once a year, participating businesses throughout Grand Falls-Windsor could celebrate LOVE GFW Week.
Businesses could offer something special.
Not necessarily discounts.
A restaurant might introduce a special menu item.
A retailer could launch a new product.
A business could hold an open house.
Another could collaborate with another local business.
Residents could participate in challenges and giveaways.
The objective would be to create one week when the entire community is talking about local.
Local Supporting Local
A particularly important part of the campaign would recognize businesses that intentionally purchase from other local businesses.
A restaurant buying from a local supplier.
An office hiring a local accountant.
A property owner using a local contractor.
A business buying employee gifts locally.
These relationships could be highlighted through:
LOCAL × LOCAL
Two GFW businesses supporting each other.
That demonstrates that buying local isn’t only something we’re asking residents to do.
We’re doing it ourselves.
LOVE GFW Community Partners
The campaign shouldn’t belong to one organization.
Downtown GFW could initiate it, but participation could include:
The Town of Grand Falls-Windsor.
The Chamber of Commerce.
Tourism organizations.
Community groups.
Sports organizations.
Schools.
Local media.
Major employers.
And businesses throughout the community.
The bigger the coalition, the stronger the message becomes.
Why It Matters
LOVE GFW isn’t about making people feel guilty for shopping online or leaving town.
People will always do both.
It’s about creating one small habit:
THINK LOCAL FIRST.
Before assuming something isn’t available here, look.
Before ordering it online, check.
Before choosing a national company, consider whether a local business can provide it.
Before buying another generic gift card, consider giving someone an experience from their own community.
We don’t need every dollar to stay local.
We need more dollars to stay local than do today.
Those dollars help businesses employ local people.
They help entrepreneurs invest.
They help fill storefronts.
They help businesses sponsor teams, events and community organizations.
And they help create the restaurants, stores, services and experiences that make Grand Falls-Windsor a better place to live.
This Is Our Community
LOVE GFW isn’t really a shopping campaign.
It’s a community pride campaign with an economic purpose.
It’s about discovering what we already have.
Celebrating the people building businesses here.
Helping those businesses succeed.
And reminding ourselves that every one of us gets a vote on the future of our community.
We cast that vote every time we decide where to spend.
❤️ LOVE GFW
Choose Local. Love Local.
Think Local First.
