When you join the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce there are all kinds of benefits available to your business. As part of your year-end (or soon-to-be new year) review, we hope you’ll include a review of how you have used your Chamber member benefits this past year and how you might be able to use them even more in the year ahead.

For consumer-centered businesses some of the easiest and best Chamber benefits you can use are the ShopLocalCHQ Gift Card and our online marketplace through Shop Where I Live. At the top of the Chamber’s Five Point Focus is a pledge to drive foot and internet traffic into local businesses to help improve sales. The ShopLocalCHQ Gift Card is now accepted at more than 165 local businesses throughout Chautauqua County, and with an estimated $80,000 in sales annually this program is aimed directly at improving sales for local businesses. Whether you’re a retailer, restaurant, attraction, or service provider, the gift card program may be just right for you to help improve your bottom line. The Shop Where I Live marketplace can be found at www.shoplocalchq.com featuring 70 local businesses selling more than 300 products online. It’s a convenient way for small businesses to compete with online sellers and to market their products.

For all businesses, the Chamber offers a series of events each year aimed at providing business-to-business networking. These events which we call Business After Hours are a convenient way for businesspeople to seamlessly wind down their workday, head to a local establishment for an hour, mingle with others and enjoy some refreshments, and then head for home. The Chamber renewed its commitment to these Business After Hours events with tremendous attendance and success in 2022 and looks forward to providing more of them in the year ahead. The Chamber’s Golf Tournament, community-wide events, and Tuesday Talks online informational sessions are also great opportunities to hear from and talk with other businesspeople.

Insurance products offered through the Chamber remain popular. Working through our partner entity, Chautauqua Benefits Specialists, group or individual health and ancillary insurance plans can be customized to meet your needs. The Chamber also provides an easy to use online system for all local businesses to comply with the New York State requirement for annual workplace sexual harassment training.

Through a series of annual legislative events the Chamber provides opportunities for local businesspeople to hear directly from our local elected officials and the county, state, and federal levels. These events align with the Chamber’s role as advocate for local business, as do our partnerships with other organizations such as The Business Council of NY and others.

We strongly encourage local businesspeople to take advantage of all the benefits the Chamber has to offer. Participation is key. When you attend Chamber functions and take part in programs we offer, it boosts your business in a variety of ways throughout the year. We have seen a great improvement in event attendance in the past year, and hope you will join us for more in the year ahead. It’s easy to keep up to date when you sign up for the Chamber’s email newsletters and other event bulletins. If you’re not receiving our emails, find the convenient form at www.chautauquachamber.org/stay-up-to-date.

CHAMBER PROVIDES NEW TOOLS FOR GIFT CARD PARTICIPANTS

Thousands of Chautauqua County residents receive ShopLocalCHQ Gift Cards each year, as gifts for many occasions or as training rewards or bonuses from work. Now the Chamber of Commerce is making it easier for you to let your customers know they can use this valuable card when they make a purchase at your business. The Chamber has rolled out a new social media toolkit, featuring three components that are easy for your business to use to capture some of this important revenue: pre-made social media images, customizable images that allow you to insert your own logo, and a “bug” that can be used in your print publications or on your website.

All of these tools can be found at www.chautauquachamber.org/shoplocalchq-gift-card-toolkit including downloadable social media graphics, the bug, and a link to the Canva platform where graphics can be customized with your own logo, plus instructions.

The sales of ShopLocalCHQ Gift Cards have been brisk so far this holiday season. The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce provides this program as a service to our members and as a way to boost small businesses and improve our local economy. The Chamber absorbs all costs associated with this program, and received a grant this year from the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth to help improve all of our Shop Small efforts including the gift card program. If your company does not accept the ShopLocalCHQ Gift Card and you would like to know more, call the Chamber at (716) 484-1101 or visit us online.

To make it easier to purchase ShopLocalCHQ Gift Cards, the Chamber is staffing its Jamestown office at 300 North Main Street from 8am-4:30pm Monday-Friday, and its Dunkirk office at 10785 Bennett Road from 8:30am-4:30pm Monday-Wednesday. The Chamber will be closed December 23, so please be sure to get your gift cards in advance.

Processing orders for multiple cards does take some time, so we urge you to call in advance at (716) 484-1101 extension 201 or email Carrie Swanson at cswanson@chautauquachamber.org. A convenient order form, and more details, can be found on our website at www.shoplocalchqcard.com.

The ShopLocalCHQ Gift Card is issued by Pathward†, N.A., Member FDIC. Funds do not expire. Non-reloadable and no cash access. For Cardholder Agreement or Customer Service: www.getmybalance.com or 1-833-558-1088.

SHOP SMALL AND SAVE 20%

Following robust sales on Cyber Monday, the Chamber has extended its discount on our web platform www.shoplocalchq.com! Consumers can now purchase great merchandise from local small businesses online and get a 20% discount when your shopping cart totals $200 or less. This offer is valid through December 19 for items purchased directly through the Chamber’s Shop Where I Live platform. Your items must be for sale directly through the platform and not redirected to another sales site. Shoplocalchq.com is an online sales and marketing platform offered by the Chamber of Commerce through Shop Where I Live. This site features over 70 local merchants offering more than 300 products for sale, and all these businesses are LOCAL! Check it out now and save through December 19.