Loving Local Gift Cards
We invite Lismore businesses – across retail, services, food, groceries, sports, health, culture and entertainment – to join the Loving Local Gift Cards program.
It’s free and easy to sign up, get marketing materials, and get involved in the Loving Local Gift Card network so that customers can use the gift cards at your store. There are also opportunities for the gift cards to be used for prizes, sponsorship, corporate gifts and relief support.
The community gift cards are designed to help keep money within our community by encouraging people to shop locally and are delivered through the Why Leave Town (WLT) program(PDF, 256KB).
Sign up for the Loving Local Gift Card program
To sign up for the program, fill out this simple application form.
Participating Lismore businesses operating with the Eftpos system can accept physical cards and the new digital cards. Participating business operating with another payment platform (eg. Square) can only accept the Loving Local Digital Gift Cards via customer's digital wallet on their smartphone.
New digital gift cards are now available
Customers can now also purchase digital Loving Local Gift Cards via the Why Leave Town website. The new digital gift cards can be used at all Lismore's participating stores that have pay-wave enabled terminals, and these businesses can also manually enter the card number for remote payments such as phone orders or online purchases.
Customers can purchase the new Loving Local Digital Gift Cards online here and see digital gift card information and FAQs here from Why Leave Town.
You can contact Council's Destination & Economy team to find out more and get involved - phone (02) 6625 0500 or email business@lismore.nsw.gov.au.
How does the gift card program work?
The card will NOT be able to be used outside of the participating stores. This means that every time one of these cards is purchased, the money stays local!
The Loving Local Gift Cards are aimed at keeping money within our community by encouraging people to shop locally. Lismore City Council is collaborating with the Lismore Chamber of Commerce & Industry to deliver this initiative, which is run through the Why Leave Town (WLT) program.
Keen to find out more?
Here are some handy information resources.
Background information
Lismore City Council launched the Loving Local Gift Card program in 2021, in collaboration with the Lismore Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
The 2022 flood disaster had a devastating impact across Lismore and the region, including many of the business participating in this initiative. Lismore City Council is working to support business recovery and renewal, and these gift cards are a great way to support our local businesses and community.
The Loving Local Gift Cards program is a key promotional and support campaign as part of the Business Activation Plan, funded through the Special Business Rate Variation Levy and Lismore City Council.