NEWBURYPORT — The owners of Salt and Grove artisan shop on Pleasant Street have made their bags and are ready to kick off the fifth annual Keep It Local shopping campaign with 19 fellow small-business owners on Saturday.
Salt and Grove co-owners Katie Rocheford and Sarah Landry have been in business for five years, offering downtown shoppers curated homeware and gifts. At the same time, they have also been spearheading a shop local campaign on Small Business Saturday.
Each of the campaign’s participating stores will offer a free Keep It Local tote bag to their first 10 customers. Each tote comes with a free gift inside and the bag also serves as a ticket to the other 19 participating stores, where customers will receive a discount throughout the day.
“Sarah and I wanted to foster the idea of shopping local and supporting all these small businesses that we are lucky enough to have here in Newburyport,” Rocheford said. “You can come in and grab something for yourself or a family member or a loved one. You can grab a gift for anybody.”
Nate Allard, executive director of the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said the tote bags offer customers a “world of local fun.”
“That’s like your passport into all the deals from participating stores,” he said.
More local stores are adding their names to the Keep It Local shopping list each year, according to Rocheford, who said 20 stores will participate this weekend, including Charleston & Coco, The Candy Man, Sage, Face Food, Greetings By Design, Love & Flour, the Angry Donut, Haven Living Co., Shine Boutique, Meraki Spa, Nauti Pearl and Native Sun.
The Keep It Local campaign has become successful enough that it is now an annual holiday stop for many people, according to Rocheford.
“People tell us they come up and do it every year now and it is a tradition with family and friends, which is awesome,” she said. “As the years have gone on, the gifts have gotten bigger and better. So, it really drums up a lot of excitement and is a good little buzz.”
The Keep It Local campaign offers customers a chance to become more involved with their local businesses, according to Rocheford. She said the shop owners enjoy the added foot traffic at a critical time of the year.
“We always laugh about the fact that we’re ordering our holiday stuff in June,” she said. “We really are thinking about the holidays all year long and this is kind of our big moment here between now and the holiday. So it’s really important for people to be supporting their local shops.”
Allard agreed the Keep It Local campaign is a great boost to downtown businesses.
“We want to keep everything local for the holidays,” he said. “That’s really the lifeblood of the downtown.”
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
