So, what does Love Northern BC do?
Glad you asked. ‘Cause we already do a whole lot — and this is just the beginning!
Love Northern BC is about community
Local businesses are owned by people who live and are fully invested in the success of the whole community. They own the interesting businesses that are a vital part of vibrant and thriving communities and give them character, personality and soul.
Love Northern BC is about relationships
People appreciate unique, charming and memorable shopping experiences and are starving for face-to-face contact – for the local shopkeeper who remembers your name. When you shop at independent businesses, you build relationships with your local shop owners.
Love Northern BC is about stories
Connecting businesses owners with the resources they need to tell their stories, and connecting residents with the stories that will inspire them to shop local.
Love Northern BC is about responsibility
Keeping your dollars circulating locally is key to the economic health of your community. For every $100 that you spend locally, up to $48 stays in your community, as compared to just $14 when you shop at a big box or chain store. Shifting your spending to funnel more dollars into local businesses can pave way for growth, new jobs, a thriving economy, and keeps creative people in your community.
Love Northern BC is about pride
If you live in northern B.C. you live in one of the most colourful, diverse and eclectic regions in Canada. Showcasing and supporting the unique shops, shopkeepers and communities throughout the North is just a small way to demonstrate how proud we are of who we are.
Love Northern BC is about results
More foot traffic. More web traffic. More resources. More recognition. More jobs. More love for everything this region has to offer.
Beginnings
Love Northern BC had its beginnings in Quesnel, B.C. with the launch of Small Town Love in 2011. Quesnel entrepreneur Amy Quarry developed a vision through her company, Small Town Love Media Inc., to help small businesses hold their own against the onslaught of chain stores and online competition, and to inspire communities to support and shop with their local business owners and neighbours.
Beyond our wildest expectations
In 2013, the potential of the Small Town Love vision began to be realized through ongoing committed funding and support from Northern Development Initiative Trust, who worked with Amy over the last few years to expand her Small Town Love experiment into a movement across the north.
Chances are, if you live in northern B.C. there is likely a LOVE project in your community. Through ongoing partnerships between the Trust and local community economic development champions, Love Northern BC has now evolved into one of the largest shop local programs in Canada. Over 34 central and northern B.C. communities are participating, showcasing well over 1,500 unique, locally-owned and independent northern B.C. businesses, across a region that covers about two thirds of the province. And the project just continues to grow.
What’s Next?
When you live in a region as diverse, creative, and spirited as northern B.C., there is no shortage of inspiration to continue to develop heart-centered marketing ideas. Love Northern BC will continue to seek and develop opportunities to build real, human connections – between neighbours, shoppers, business owners, and visitors – throughout the region.
In the News
Thinking Big About Buying Local – BC Business
Spreading the Love across Northern BC – Small Business BC
Rekindling the Romance with our local businesses – Northword Magazine
Dawson Creek joins Small Town Love – Northeast News
Small Town Love Valemount Interview – Valemount Community TV
Valemount to get Small Town Love – The Rocky Mountain Goat
Love Downtown PG Campaign Launch – Prince George Citizen
Small Town Love could spread to the Hazeltons – Interior News
Buy-Local Program spreads for 2014 – Prince George Citizen
Love Kitimat business fair draws positive response – Kitimat Sentinel
Love Chetwynd? There’s a website for that – Alaska Highway News
It’s time for some Small Town Love in Chetwynd – The Chetwynd Echo
Williams Lake Small Town Love website launched – Williams Lake Tribune
Small Town Love is Growing in Fort Nelson – Northern Rockies
Small Town Love Prince Rupert Tradeshow Launch – CFTK TV