With all of the challenges that our local and small businesses on the Sunshine Coast are facing right now, many brick and mortar shops have had to shut their doors for both safety and financial reasons.

Some businesses have been able to adapt to these changes quickly and move to online sales models or pivot into takeout and curbside pick-up models to help keep the lights on. But building an online shopping site and ordering new safety supplies to meet the safety guidelines is a lot to pull off in a crisis!

That’s where the Sunshine Coast Gift Cards Program has stepped in to help bridge the gap.

The Sechelt Downtown Business Association, Sunshine Coast Community Futures and Sunshine Coast Regional Economic Development Organization have teamed together to fund and launch an online shopping site to serve the whole Sunshine Coast.

The idea is simple. People can purchase gift cards for any of the Sunshine Coast businesses listed on the online store. All funds from the purchase are sent directly to the businesses each week to help support them while social distancing measures are in place and customers are forced to stay home.

When it’s safe to open our shop doors again, customers present their unique gift cards generated through the online store in exchange for goods and services.

The best part is, it’s free for any Sunshine Coast business to join the program. All you have to do is sign-up on the website and agree to honour the gift certificate when the time comes!

Click here to sign-up for free https://sunshinecoastgiftcards.com/pages/for-businesses. For questions and inquiries, contact Theressa Logan at sdba@dccnet.com.

To date, 50 businesses have signed up with more joining every day, and dozens of gift cards have been purchased with funds already sent to participating businesses, injecting much needed cash into the hands of local businesses right now.

We like this idea for helping businesses pivot quickly- every little bit counts! Tell us in the comments if you’ve seen any great ideas from the local business community.