ALMOST $50,000 worth of Bathurst Buy Local Gift Cards remain unspent in the purses and wallets of card recipients.
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Bathurst Regional Council launched the gift card in April 2015 to encourage residents to shop locally and as a demonstration of council’s support for local businesses, economic prosperity and jobs growth.
A report by acting environmental planning and building services director Janet Bingham to Wednesday night’s council meeting outlines the success of the cards, but also reveals just how many have not yet been redeemed at local businesses.
“The Bathurst Buy Local Gift Card program reached a significant milestone in August 2017 with $200,000 loaded onto the cards since the launch of the program,” Ms Bingham wrote in the report.
"The total number of cards purchased in the program to date is 3,255 to the value of $206,632. Of this amount, $158,467 has been spent at local shops, directly contributing to the Bathurst economy.”
On those numbers, $48,165 worth of gift cards remain unspent – almost a quarter of the total value of cards sold.
There are currently 146 local businesses involved in the program.