A program encouraging residents to shop local during the holidays kicked off Wednesday.

Shop St. Joseph runs from November 8th through December 18th.

“Shop St. Joe is a buy local holiday program on steroids,” said Natalie Redmond, St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Membership. “It’s designed to be a program that encourages people to remember to support local businesses during the holidays, which helps keep money local. When you go to Kansas City or some other locations or shop online, it doesn’t create the tax dollars to help with St. Joseph. So we really encourage people to be mindful of supporting local businesses during the holidays and we give a kickback for that.”  

Redmond said for every $10 a shopper spends at a local business participating in Shop St. Joseph, they receive a ticket. A drawing will be held December 20th and the person with the winning ticket number could win $10,000.

For more information and a list of participating businesses, click here.