The activities arranged by Living Lerwick, the BID for Lerwick, during the October holidays have generated plenty of footfall to Lerwick town centre and have been hailed a success by business owners and customers.
The Love Local Hub set up for the holidays provided a showcase of products and services which can be purchased in the town centre and saw a footfall of 580 people over twelve days.
The Super Star Trail was extremely popular with families. 240 collection bags were handed out for bairns to collect prizes from businesses where Maunsie was ‘hiding’. Feedback was excellent from both participants and businesses. One business claimed it was the best competition they’d ever done as the bairns enjoyed it so much and there were many comments from parents that they had had a chance to start looking around for Christmas shopping while on the trail.
The Neepie Lantern competition which ran over the second week of the holidays saw 31 neepie characters placed in windows around the town centre. Each had a unique character and the assortment of names were as fun as the designs. The public voted for their favourite and it was an extremely close fought competition with two joint first place winners: LHD Custom Clothing with their ‘Minecraft Neeper’ and Peerie Foxes Nursery with ‘Fantastic Fearsome Mrs Fox’. Both were presented with a trophy this week for their effort. Mention should also go to the 2 businesses who tied for second place – Jamieson’s Knitwear with ‘Harry Knitter’ and ICare Shetland with ‘Eenie’
The Love Local Hub colouring competition was also popular with the younger visitors, with so many great entries that judge, Gemma Tonge from Aa Fired Up, couldn’t pick just one winner. Sophie Burden, age 5 from Lerwick and Calla Brown, age 7 from Lerwick will both have their designs transferred on to a plate at Aa Fired Up.
One lucky winner also received a £50 voucher for their loyalty to local businesses, having completed a full Spend at da Street card during the October Holidays. Sheila Manson was delighted to win and chose to spend her voucher at Harry’s.
Living Lerwick Chairman, Steve Mathieson commented: “The October holidays have seen a steady stream of footfall along the Street, in amongst the autumnal Shetland weather. We felt it was important to offer families safe and fun activities to engage with, and the participation from the town centre businesses has made it a great experience for everyone.
“At the Hub we’ve been chatting with lots of people who have already started their Christmas shopping and had found new ideas on the Star Trail as they went into shops they might not normally visit.
“Businesses have faced a tough year and are still restricted in trading conditions, but the public have seen that they are doing all they can to make the shopping and eating experience safe and accessible. Living Lerwick will be announcing details shortly of new flexible options for shoppers in the lead up to Christmas including extended opening hours and closed shop appointment systems. We will also be announcing town centre Christmas activities which will comply with any Covid restrictions in place.”
(Image: Living Lerwick)
