To encourage locals to spend money in town rather than online, Bathurst Regional Council has initiated a week's worth of Black Friday sales, running from Tuesday, November 23 to Tuesday, November 30.

One local business jumping on board is Red Chair Boutique with owner Robyn Robertson looking forward to the week-long sale.

"Usually with Black Friday I don't do it because it's online but I thought 'that's a good idea'," Ms Robertson said.

"I think it's great that it's not all about online because I think when we were locked down people realised this is what the town will be like without our shops ... there's so many good shops and such good variety in Bathurst."

With data showing a significant increase in online spending during the Black Friday period, council's economic development manager Jessica Wilkinson said they were hoping the initiative boosts local sales.

"What this campaign aims to do is, we know people are going online to get their Black Friday bargains, what we want to do is provide Black Friday bargains here in town to keep that spending local and stop the dollars going online," she said.

"So that's the key to this campaign, why wait for the postman when you can get your bargains right here in town and we can keep the dollars local?"

Larger national retailers already run Black Friday sales but what this initiative aims to do is encourage independently-owned businesses to join, like Red Chair Boutique.

The Black Friday promotion is free for any retailer to join and thousands of dollars worth of Buy Local gift cards will be up for grabs to further encourage people to support participating stores.

As the festive season approaches, it's a great opportunity for people to purchase Christmas gifts and also support the local economy.

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