Virtual high streets to help local shops thrive in Kingston
With High Street shops reopened after months of uncertainty and lockdown, Kingston’s town centres are now fighting back.
Kingston Council is enabling independent shops and businesses to join the collective, local shopping and business ecommerce platform, Shopappy.com. It’s a town-based website that makes it easier for everyone to buy goods and services locally from their own local High Street from the comfort of their sofas – at no extra cost.
Surbiton and Kingston will be the first two town centres launching, with dozens of local independent businesses already sharing their services and products on the platform.
Cllr John Sweeney, Portfolio Holder for Business and Leisure at Kingston Council, said:
“With all our lives increasingly focusing on the local, Kingston is fortunate to have everything needed to live a fulfilling, healthy and prosperous life within the borough and we are creating even more opportunities for people to genuinely live, work and shop locally. This is one of the things we can do to offer much more than traditional shopping and ensure the whole borough is well-placed to thrive in a completely new social and economic climate.
“We are happy to be able to provide this for businesses free of charge until February 2022 and make it easier for people to support local businesses beyond lockdown. With ShopAppy, you can browse goods and services online, organise a convenient collection and support local businesses from the comfort of your home. But this is not just about shops. ShopAppy.com can help services, trades, B2B businesses, chefs, pop-ups, entertainers, and market stalls with bookings, click and collect, home delivery and can even host virtual events such as fairs and markets – all ways in which online can support our economic recovery.”
Eva Veliotou, from Rocco Jewellery, said:
“We think that people love to shop locally, especially if it’s convenient! ShopAppy is a unique platform connecting customers with businesses and allowing them to easily shop from their high-street, online. It’s also a great way of discovering businesses that customers may then want to visit in-store. We will be launching the new Rocco Jewellery studio shop in Berrylands this November and offering click & collect on ShopAppy purchases in-store.”
Browse your favorite Kingston shops online, and Surbiton or go to shopappy.com
Local businesses can sign up to the service free, at www.shopappy.com.