Chamber Chat “Shop & Win” Campaign Calling For Support

Many stores participated in the Shop & Win campaign in 2025. Photo credit: Victoria Velton

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By Mary Brown, President of the Hinchinbrook Chamber of Industry & Tourism

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Hinchinbrook Chamber’s annual “Shop & Win” campaign has become a familiar part of the local Christmas calendar, encouraging our community to shop locally, support local businesses and keep spending within our region during one of the busiest retail periods of the year.

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Since the inception of this campaign, a very small team have been the driving force to make this happen, however this year that capacity is reduced and it will not be possible to go ahead with additional support.  

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This is why Chamber is putting the call out for assistance. Like many community initiatives, “Shop & Win” takes considerable time and effort behind the scenes to coordinate, promote and deliver. While Chamber is committed to supporting our local business community, the campaign cannot be successfully delivered by a small number of people alone.

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This year, we are calling on local retailers, Chamber members and community volunteers to put their hands up and help bring “Shop & Win” to life. We’re not asking one or two people to take on the entire campaign. Quite the opposite. If a number of people can each contribute a small amount of time, the workload becomes much more manageable.

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Support can take many forms, for those who are not currently members, it can be as simple as joining Chamber and becoming involved through the decision-making process. Other ways include assisting with campaign coordination, distributing and collecting materials, helping engage participating businesses, promotion, prize coordination or lending a hand with some of the administrative tasks involved in running the campaign.

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Many hands make light work, and even a small commitment of time from several people would make an enormous difference.

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“Shop & Win” exists to support our local business community. It encourages people to choose a local retailer, spend locally at Christmas and discover businesses they may not otherwise visit. But for a campaign designed to support local businesses to continue, it also needs the support of those businesses and the wider community.

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Without additional retailer and volunteer support, Chamber will unfortunately not be in a position to progress the “Shop & Win” campaign this year.

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Chamber knows there is strong community support for shopping local and would love to see “Shop & Win” return in 2026, however its future relies on a collaborative approach and people being willing to contribute to make it happen.

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That’s not an outcome Chamber wants to see, and we know “Shop & Win” is something many businesses and community members look forward to each year, however continuing the campaign needs to be a shared effort.

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If you are a retailer, Chamber member or community member who value “Shop & Win”, have benefited from it in previous years or simply want to help encourage people to shop locally, now is the time to get involved.  

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Interested parties can contact Chamber through their many platforms or come along to the monthly Chamber meeting on Monday 21st September at 5:30pm at 73-781 Lannercost Street.

Shop local. Support local.

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