A new gift card has been launched to give a boost to a city's high street shops, bars and restaurants during the Covid crisis.
The Leicester Gift Card, which can be bought at values between £5 and £500, can be spent in more than 100 city centre businesses.
Outlets participating in the scheme - launched by the team at the city’s Business Improvement District - include high street chains, independent shops, restaurants, pubs, cinemas and hotels.
National chains taking part include John Lewis, The Perfume Shop, Boots, WH Smith, Hotel Chocolat, Ernest Jones, Flying Tiger Pandora, and Marks & Spencer.
Independent shops and bars participating include Set, Manhattan 34, Wellgosh, Chutney Ivy, 23 Wine & Whiskey, Prana Café, Healthy Route and Harriman & Co.
BID Leicester director Simon Jenner said: “The Leicester Gift Card is an exciting scheme, designed to give shoppers the choice of the city centre whilst protecting local spending.
“With the number of businesses in the city centre accepting the card increasing every week, we are expecting it to become a popular present choice for birthdays, special occasions and even corporate gifts – what better way for employers to show their support for their city?
“Customers can use the Gift Card flexibly, spending the balance in one go or in different businesses over time.
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“It's a particularly significant time for customers to think twice about how and where they are spending their hard earned money – there is an increased awareness of the importance of supporting local businesses, and the Leicester Gift Card will harness this sense of pride and support of all things Leicester to assist the recovery of the city from the recent crisis and to a prosperous future.
“We are confident the number of participating businesses will continue to grow over the coming months.
“By accepting the card, businesses are opening themselves up to an additional revenue stream and potentially a new audience of customers who discover them after being gifted a card.
“There’s no downside, so I encourage businesses owners who are not yet on board to get in touch today to complete the quick and easy sign up process.
“The Leicester Gift Card will take the pain out of shopping for the hard to buy for, give its recipients the gift of choice and help to support the local economy – it’s a win, win, win situation.”
In a statement, the owner of independent boutique The Very Bazaar, in Silver Street, said: “We’re so pleased to join The Leicester Gift Card scheme.
“It is a great way to draw people back to Leicester city centre and we are ensuring that local independent shops will benefit.
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“Helping customers find the perfect item in our shop is our passion, so we love that it encourages shopping in person rather than online.
“We hope to welcome many new customers who have discovered our store after being gifted a card.”
The Leicester Gift Card works like other shop gift cards where customers choose the amount they wish to load onto it before giving it as a present.
The cards - bought online at theleicestergiftcard.com and posted out - can only be redeemed in-store, encouraging customers to come out and support their local businesses in person.
Each card is valid for 12 months and similar schemes already run around the country.
The BID team said that last year more than 22,000 town and city gift cards were sold across the 海角视频, with an average value of £45.
Colin Munro, managing director of tech firm Miconex, the company working with BID Leicester on The Leicester Gift Card, said: “BID Leicester is proactively finding solutions to keep money in the local economy and drive recovery at a pivotal time for our high streets.
“We’re delighted to be working alongside BID Leicester for the launch and are very much looking forward to continuing to support the program to lock in money for Leicester businesses.”