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Mayor Billy Barlow announced today the City of Oswego is hosting a second round of the “Buy One Get One” program to incentivize residents to shop locally and support small businesses in Oswego.
The “Buy One Get One” program partners city government with local businesses to offer store deals and dining discounts. The city previously created gift certificates to be used at local businesses throughout Oswego, allowing residents to purchase a gift certificate for $25 and the City of Oswego, using funding provided by the Oswego City Revitalization Corporation (OCRC), will match the funding, providing the purchaser a second $25 gift card for free, to be used at participating local retailers and restaurants.
The City of Oswego administered a round of the “Buy One Get One Program” during the 2020 holiday shopping season and experienced significant interest from businesses and shoppers, selling out of gift certificates within hours. The second round of the program, initially announced during Mayor Barlow’s State of the City Address in January and titled “Blizzard Bucks” for this upcoming round, is intended to encourage shopping local in March, a month typically considered the slowest shopping month of the year for Oswego businesses. In addition to the annual lull in business, ongoing COVID concerns continue to hamper economic activity.
“Our new “Buy One Get One” program is a very unique and creative way to further support our small business community during the COVID crisis by directly incentivizing and encouraging residents to stay in Oswego and shop local,” said Mayor Billy Barlow. “Throughout the pandemic, we’ve tried to develop creative ways to help support businesses here in Oswego, and the “Buy One Get One” program, mutually benefiting producers and consumers, is one more tool we can use to keep our local economy moving,” Barlow said.
“Buy One Gift One” certificates will go on sale on Saturday, February 27th at 9:00am at the City of Oswego Economic Development Office, located at 44 East Bridge Street. The city is using $10,000 in OCRC funding to make 400 gift certificates available, on a first come, first serve basis, limited one per customer. Certificates will expire on March 31st, 2021.
Nathan Emmons, Director of Economic Development said, “The holiday “Buy One Get One” program was very successful for both consumer and local businesses at a time when holiday sales were in jeopardy due to the pandemic. As we move through 2021, the small business community continues to persevere through the loyalty of our great community.”
Any locally owned small business located within the City of Oswego wishing to get more details on how the program works and wants to participate by accepting gift certificates, please contact Nate Emmons via email at nemmons@oswegony.org, This program is free for small businesses to participate and requires no monetary investment.
