Go Local continues its mission to support independent shops

Among the many elements that make Asheville distinctly and delightfully weird are its local businesses, from shoe stores with entrances on seemingly every block (we’re looking at you, Tops) to bars that double as wedding chapels (Fleetwood’s), and everything in between. 

Also worth considering are the connections between local businesses — be it restaurants and mushroom growers, trivia emcees and breweries, social media masters and, well, everyone.

This week, Xpress looks at those independently owned enterprises and the interconnected web that helps keep these operations running. Part of that equation is Go Local. 

Chances are, you’ve seen the Go Local logo around town. Similar to a secret handshake, cardholders can flash their membership ID to over 640 participating Asheville-area businesses and unlock a variety of perks. 

For example, The Hop Ice Cream offers participants a 15% discount. That alone could cover the card’s $20 cost in a matter of weeks — depending on how much you like sweets. 

Since its launch in 2015, the Go Local card campaign’s goal has been to help maintain a resilient local economy. The program also raises funds for local schools, contributing $275,000 to Asheville City Schools thus far. 

Xpress caught up with Sherree Lucas, the organization’s executive director, to find out more about Go Local and what it does for the community.

Xpress: What kind of businesses participate in Go Local?

Lucas: We have just about every category you can think of, from brick-and-mortar to mobile to home-based to web-based. I think it represents Asheville well in that it’s so diverse. We have many LGBTQ-owned businesses. We have many Black-owned businesses. More than 50% are women-owned businesses. 

How does a business become a member?

It’s free. All they have to be is local and independent, meaning they’re not part of a chain or franchise, and the money stays in Buncombe County. There’s no membership fee. What they do is they offer a discount or an added value for Go Local cardholders.

We pride ourselves on not having a membership fee. In exchange for offering the discount, businesses get placement in the print directory, in our online directory, in our app, and we do social media whenever new business members come in. We’re always doing social media posts. It was National Pet Day, so we listed all of the pet companies that are on the card. Just imagine that throughout the year, there’s observances and holidays, and we’re able to get a lot of our businesses recognized in those types of postings.

What else do you do for member businesses?

We do [free] workshops. We’ve done marketing workshops, we’ve done workshops on how to leverage being a Go Local member. We have point-of-sale materials that recognize them. If they’re brick-and-mortar, the logo can be on their store, on their door, on their window, on their cash register. And if they’re home-based or web-based, then we give them digital assets of signage that they can use for their website or their car — wherever they would like to promote that they’re part of our community. 

Do businesses have to offer a discount to a cardholder to be listed in the directory?

They do. That’s what we ask in lieu of a membership fee. [Discounts] don’t have to be huge. They can be really whatever makes sense for a business.  Chai Pani offers free chai tea. Then we have The Hop, which offers 15% off anything that you get in that store. So those are just two examples of different types of discounts. And some people may offer a 10% off on a first-time service. Some may offer a free dessert or a free consultation. 

We just ask that it be unique. So if you go to Go Local, and you look at their offer and it’s a free consultation, and then you go to their website and they offer everybody a free consultation, we wouldn’t say that’s a Go Local offer. We would want them to do something that would be unique to Go Local cardholders.

Tell me more about the organization’s fundraising efforts. 

A quarter of card proceeds goes to Asheville City School Foundation for its In Real Life program, which is an after-school program in the middle schools. We also give 100 free Go Local cards for PTAs to sell, and they keep all of the money. If a school got 100 free cards and sold them at $20 each, that’s $2,000 for that school. We give out 1,000 cards to area schools. That has worked really well. We’re looking to expand to Buncombe County Schools. 

Why do you think independent businesses are so successful in Asheville?

I think it’s part of the culture. When something’s part of the culture, it’s just ingrained in everything we do. There are so many people here who love that about Asheville. Many people moved here because of that. I think there’s a sense of guardianship or protection. There’s a pride in businesses that are local, independent. You walk into these great stores and they’re so unique in the products that they offer at such good quality.