TAvistock businesses are being urged to help their employees shop local this Christmas, by buying them a Tavistock gift card as a festive thank-you.

The gift card scheme is run by the Tavistock BID (Business Improvement District) and can be used to shop in more than 50 shops and businesses in town who have signed up to the scheme.

Launched during the pandemic to give a festive boost to businesses, it has provided popular both with shoppers and local traders alike.

And this Christmas, Tavistock BID manager Janna Sanders is suggesting businesses in Tavistock could give their home town a boost by treating their employees to the local gift card as a Christmas present.

This follows research commissioned by the Town & City Gift Card Scheme, which runs the scheme for Tavistock and other towns, which suggested a gift card to be employees would most like as a token of appreciation from their employees this yuletide, more so than a Christmas party.

And as Janna pointed out, in these straitened times, the gift card offered the flexibility of spending in some of Tavistock’s food shops for Christmas edibles.

She said: ‘I want busineses to consider this as a present for their staff.

‘The gift card is working really well but we are trying to expand into corporate sales. Corporate sales are very important to us, because we could get 25 sales in one hit.

‘Last year, Tavyside Pharmacy bought all their staff a gift card as a thank-you.

‘It is about encouraging businesses to support each other. This year it is going to be really tough, retailers are expecting a 50 per cent loss this Christmas, so corporate sales are something that could boost the high street. It would be great if businesses in the outlying industrial estates might consider the gift card for their staff, that is what we are hoping for.’

She added: ‘Hopefully business want to thank their employees [this Christmas] so they will be looking for a way to do it and rather tha having a party perhaps they would rather have a £50 gift card to go and do their weekly shop. They could go to the butchers, they could go to a veg shop, they could spend it anywhere they want.’

The gift card can be picked up in Tavistock shops and loaded with the amount of money the gift-giver chooses. Companies who would like to give a gift card to their employees can contact the BID at tavistockbid.co.uk

The recent survey by the Town & City Gift Card scheme found that that over 53% of employees would prefer to receive a gift card from their workplace for Christmas 2022, higher than cash (33.1%) and social events (9.4%). 

Janna said: ‘Around 46% of people say they are either slightly or significantly worse off this year. In our research, 72% of employees said they would use their gift card on something practical. The great thing about it is that it can be spent on a groceries or clothing, as much as on a meal out or a trip to the salon. It puts that choice in the employee’s hands.’