Many of us enjoy the experience of walking down our local “Main Street,” popping in and out of the shops operated by independent merchants and browsing for interesting products. The reality is that this once-favorite past-time now feels unsafe and uncomfortable for many.
Imagine a virtual Main Street that still has all the shops you love, where merchants share seasonal hand-picked products to showcase on a localized, digital marketplace. Enter bendmarketplace.com, a website marketplace venue created by Support-Local that will continue to evolve as new merchants, products and collections are added.
For businesses, this website will be a valuable sales and marketing tool and is available to utilize for free thanks to an early initial sponsorship from Northline Wealth Management. Whether a merchant already has a robust website or has never had a site at all, the marketplace levels the playing field and simply connects customers with products and merchants in a way that is fun, fast and effective. Restaurant owners can highlight their business, sell products and share links for takeout and delivery — and there is a place for recreational activities and online class listings as well.
For the community, the site allows us to shop and support our favorite local retailers from the comfort and safety of our homes while keeping dollars spent online within the community and supporting the businesses of friends and neighbors.
bendmarketplace.com is live and ready for more local, independent businesses to populate it. Diversity and variety are the spice of life, and it’s no different with the Bend Marketplace: The more independent merchants who join, the better! If you have a local business, please consider joining the Bend Marketplace, and encourage any other favorite business owners to join as well. Together, we can keep our local economy thriving while also keeping ourselves and our families healthy.
If you have any questions or suggestions about Support-Local and/or Bend Marketplace, please email to hello@support-local.com.
