Camberley Town Centre Independent Business Month 2017

July marks the start of Independent Business Month in Camberley Town Centre, which aims to raise awareness for the fantastic independent businesses within the town and encourage shoppers to support local business.

Throughout July we are celebrating the achievements of many of the towns independently owned businesses and encouraging shoppers to support local traders. Camberley Town Centre has more than 70 Independent Businesses including restaurants, hairdressers, art galleries, bakeries, lighting and much more. Over the past few weeks, our team have been busy working with seven of the towns independent businesses – The Cabin, Oakwood Bespoke, Glo Salons, Camberley Travel, Sanjha, Bossy Boots and Leightons Opticians – to create the 2017 Independent Business Month film.

With an eclectic array of businesses featured, Collectively Camberley’s promotional film goes deep into the heart of life as an independent retailer in Camberley. The video follows Collectively Camberley’s 2016 promotion film that received over 76,000 views on Facebook.

In a research project completed for The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) about the value of a £1 spent locally, they discovered that for every £1 spent locally around 50p – 70p of that money recirculates back into the local economy. For the same £1 spent out of town or online only 5p trickles back to the local community.

**Lucy Boazman, BID Manager for Collectively Camberley said**

“Independent Business Month is a really important time for the Independent shops in the Town Centre, and we’re calling on shoppers to visit our town and see what they have to offer. Camberley has an excellent mix of independently owned businesses, from those who have just opened to many others who have been trading in the Town for years. We are really encouraged by the number of new businesses that have opened in Camberley recently. It shows a real business confidence in the town centre.
While many people do shop for convenience online, or at one-stop centres, there’s no substitute for great customer service and that sense of community that comes with shopping in an independent business, and we want to remind people of that.”

Throughout the month of July, the BID will be promoting Camberley’s Independent Business on their LoveCamberley social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter. As well as the promotional film, they will also be airing a series of podcasts recorded with many of the businesses within the town centre.