If you are still able to keep track of days and dates, this coming Friday is Black Friday. Retailers of all shapes and sizes have had one of their toughest years ever. It must be stressful to be forced to compete with massive discounting, when they are already facing so many obstacles.
Any hoo, the perfect antidote to all this is Just A Card Indie Week campaign which runs from 23 to 27 November. The goal of this is to support small shops and businesses in the UK.
The founder of Just A Card is Sarah Hamilton, a designer who lives in nearby Sydenham Hill. Together with her team, they have built an amazing grassroots organisation that supports independent shops, makers and designers all around the UK.
Just A Card is very active on social media promoting the campaign and their many members. They sell pledge pins, window stickers and promo bundles (available on their website).
Many of our local indies in Crystal Palace display the window sticker, because while the origin of the campaign was in greetings cards, it's not just about "Just A Card", it's about making any small, affordable purchase locally that might not otherwise happen, if you didn't really think about it, went to Amazon, or the supermarket, or reached for your phone instead, on autopilot mode.
Just a book, a pair of socks, a salon product, some perfume, a toy, a bunch of flowers, a vase, some dinner plates, a gift for a friend, a foodie treat, a sandwich, a loaf of bread, a cake, a cup of coffee, a snack, a mug of mulled wine, a takeaway, a refill. Every local purchase matters and makes a huge, huge difference to our local traders and community.
5 ways to get involved
Vist the Just A Card website to learn more
Take part in the fun Indie week Instagram challenge this week (see below)
Buy a pin (a Christmassy one, or the year-round classic pin)
Take the pledge: shop as independently as you possibly can for the rest of November and December
Tell people about what you've enjoyed buying locally and recommend local places you rate.
The Indie Week Instagram Challenge
You can join in if you own a local business, or if you are Just An Enthusiast and want to share some extra love about the special local places you'd like to support (and we're counting on you on Thursday).
Follow the hashtags #justacard and #indieweek this week and you might find something you'd love for Christmas.
If you're a business, DON'T OVERTHINK IT! It's easy to get in a funk about social media, but this week, there are loads of friendly strangers out there that want to support you.
So go for it and jump in.
#ShopSE19 and Just A Card
We're on board with the campaign and would love to encourage as many local people and businesses as possible to jump aboard. Follow and use our hashtag #ShopSE19. Inspite of the restrictions of Lockdown 2, do what you can to support local businesses this week, whether it's a click and collect order, a takeaway coffee, some extra free love on social media or we've got to say it...
...just a batch of Raffle Tickets. You know it makes sense! Just The Ticket in fact (ahem).
