Narrogin retailers celebrate Christmas cheer

It was good news for retailers in Narrogin during the Christmas period with a surge in business, according to data collected for the Narrogin Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Each year, local businesses participate in a festive-period loyalty program called Shop Local, which rewards people with Narrogin vouchers to spend in town.

Shoppers must spend $20 in store to be eligible to enter to win vouchers, and winners were drawn throughout December.

In 2014, 32 businesses in Narrogin and Williams participated in the promotion and some 14,000 entries were taken with winners sharing $6400 worth of prizes.

This is a 150 per cent increase since the promotion began in 2009.

NCCI chief executive Kerry Bryant said shopping locally was becoming a preferred option for Narrogin residents.

She said there was plenty of %opportunity for businesses to collect information relating the demographic of their customers from entry form information.

“It’s not just Narrogin people who are shopping in Narrogin and there is plenty of room to expand business online,” she said.

“Businesses can take advantage of the data they collected to help identify their shoppers and grow from there.”

Jan McKenzie, who with her husband Bruce Neasmith took over Parry’s last November and joined the NCCI, said it was good to offer people from the region a reason to spend their money in town.

“Out of the eight winning vouchers, just two were from Narrogin,” she said.

“All small towns are doing it tough but being a regional centre helps Narrogin.”

Ms McKenzie said she welcomed customers from as far away as Hyden.

“I’m confident in people shopping local, there’s a good vibe,” she said.

“It’s what you make it in the end.”

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