Gift cards encourage local shopping

Local councillors at a recent Nenagh Municipal District meeting praised the potential of the Love Tipperary Gift Cards, which are designed to encourage people to shop local while also noting that more work needed to be done to spread the word about the gift cards and where they can be spent in Tipperary.

These gift cards, which were launched in 2024, aim to get people to spend their money locally. With a 0% commission rate on each gift card, each gift card aims to keep money circulating within the county, in an effort to support local businesses and the local economy.

Over 300 businesses in Tipperary are registered to accept these gift cards,

In its first year, €250,000 was spent by people in Tipperary on these gift cards, with €74,018 redeemed in Tipperary. That means that €175,982 went unspent locally on these gift cards.

Local councillors at the Nenagh Municipal District meeting, such as Cllr Joe Hannigan, praised the success of the Love Tipperary gift cards but also stated that the cards needed to be better advertised to help encourage further spending locally.

CARD STOCKISTS

In Nenagh, Love Tipperary Gift Cards can be found in the Nenagh Tourist Office and in the Nenagh Credit Union. People can also purchase their Love Tipperary Gift Card online at townandcitygiftcards.ie, which also has a list of all the businesses in Tipperary that accept the card.

Along with local businesses, the cards can also be spent in major retailers such as in Aldi, Lidl and Tesco.

REACTION FROM LOCAL BUSINESSES

Speaking to the Nenagh Guardian, some local businesses remarked that they haven’t had a substantial amount of gift cards presented in store, and while they praised the scheme, they did express that there needed to be further engagement with it.