Keep it Coastal is a place-based brand that celebrates and promotes community love here on the Sunshine Coast. We educate on the benefits of choosing local, amplify community pride, and support small local businesses through community-driven buy local campaigns. Learn more about how your business can participate in our 2023 Keep it Coastal Holiday Campaign HERE!

Find Your Reasons to Shop Local

Find Your Reasons to Shop Local

There are so many reasons for both consumers and businesses to #KeepitCoastal as often as possible when making purchasing decisions. Keeping your money on the coast is key to the long-term economic health of our coastal communities. Even a small shift in your spending towards local shops, businesses, and service providers can pave the way for economic growth, the creation of new jobs, increased creative entrepreneurship, and so much more, here on the Sunshine Coast.

When you choose to #KeepitCoastal you are directly supporting the eclectic diversity that local small businesses bring to our communities is what makes the coast so vibrant, unique, and full of character. Each of our local businesses adds something different, one-of-a-kind, and together they create an exciting, livable community for locals and tourists alike.

Research shows that locally owned businesses recycle approximately 63% of their revenue back into our local economy, as opposed to only 14% by multinational corporations, creating 4.6 times the economic impact with every dollar earned! When you #KeepitCoastal you strengthen our communities and encourage our small business owners to continue to grow their business here on the coast.

When you #KeepitCoastal you are creating jobs for the people you care about in our community: your friends, your neighbours, and your family! A successful local business will usually expand, which will open up more job positions that will be filled by local employees in our coastal communities.

A thriving community relies on local tax dollars to maintain the infrastructure, beautify neighbourhoods, and help support important local programs and initiatives. Every time you #KeepitCoastal and purchase a product or service from a local business, the business taxes go straight back into our local community infrastructure!

When you #KeepitCoastal and local small businesses succeed in our community, it encourages others to take the plunge and also become coastal entrepreneurs. Local entrepreneurs often take a unique approach with their products and services to complement other local businesses in our community and create collaboration opportunities with other local business owners!

Supporting coastal businesses helps to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable community centres, and local businesses are also more likely to source their products on the coast. These factors help to reduce: community sprawl, transportation routes, personal automobile use, local habitat loss, and unnecessary air/water pollution. All in all, when you #KeepitCoastal it’s a huge win for the coast and the planet!

Local businesses support local charities in our community at a much higher rate than larger corporations, so when you #KeepitCoastal you are helping to increase the number of donations to the local food bank, local youth programs, and other charities that are important to the local people of our coastal communities.

When you #KeepitCoastal you are helping to create more choices at our local shops. Local businesses carry more locally made products, have a flexible inventory and can provide quick response times to customer requests. For example, at one of our small coastal boutiques a customer wanting a particular item may be able to order it directly from the owner — or the owner might discover a market for that type of item in our community and start to carry it in the store all the time!

When you #KeepitCoastal and visit one of our local coastal businesses you will notice that the owner usually knows most of their customers by name—and often know what coffee they normally order, or cut of meat they purchase. Local business owners really care about our community and their customers, are knowledgeable about their products, and are keen to help everyone find exactly what they’re looking for.

When you #KeepitCoastal you are helping to create the identity of the Sunshine Coast and each of our coastal communities. Having our streets lined with unique and vibrant shops creates a more appealing aesthetic that is not only fantastic for the locals but it attracts tourists too! People are drawn to unique independent businesses—they create the soul and character of a community!

Photo: Persephone Brewing Co., CBR Photography

When you spend locally, our economy feels the impact.
 
When you spend locally, our economy feels the impact.

To make a positive impact on the Coast, knowing how to Keep it Coastal is just as important as why. It’s time to practice what we’ve been preaching and take measures to support our local businesses on the Sunshine Coast. Have any other ideas? Send a message and let us know your thoughts!

  1. Buy coast local online. Support local businesses by trying out online services available right here on the coast.
  2. Shop in store. Visit your favourite storefronts, and meet the local owners and employees. Nothing beats in person interaction, knowledge and experience.
  3. Gift coastal experiences. No-wait, no shipping. Gifting local experiences supports coastal services and tourism.
  4. Support communities. Visit our quaint downtown areas, like Lower Gibsons, Sechelt’s Cowrie Street, and Madeira Park village to find unique goods and services with a lovely coastal community feel.
  5. Put local on your table. Choose local ingredients, food products, and beverages grown and manufactured right here in our coastal community.
  6. Buy locally made products. Support the Sunshine Coast’s wide variety of talented artists, makers and manufacturers.
  7. Buy local gift cards. Give gift cards from local stores and restaurants! Your friends, family, and neighbours will love getting out and about to make their own selections, and create new connections.

Photo: Les Fleurs De Fi, CBR Photography

The more you discover, the more you love.

The more you discover, the more you love.

The Sunshine Coast is home to some of the most beautiful natural surroundings, and businesses that compliment this astounding community. Discover all our local business community has to offer!

Below you will find links to events and local businesses. We also periodically host workshops and events for local business owners and entrepreneurs, check back regularly to see what is coming up! Make sure to follow us on Instagram and Facebook to share your local discoveries using #KeepitCoastal.

→ Local Events on the Sunshine Coast

→ Directory of Local Businesses

→ Yearly #KeepItCoastal Campaign for the Holidays

Sunshine Coast Farmers and Artisans Markets
Holiday Craft Fairs and Markets

Development of the Keep it Coastal Brand was supported by the Government of Canada’s Strategic Activities Program, administered by the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and delivered through the BC Chamber of Commerce.