How you can support San Joaquin County small businesses, get up to $200 in rewards
There is a new way for you to support small businesses in San Joaquin County called Shop San Joaquin, where you can get up to $200 back in rewards. The rewards program, which is the result of $1 million in COVID-19 relief funding, encourages customers to shop local and support the independently owned businesses that are still dealing with the impact of the pandemic. Business that are participating have fewer than 500 employees and operated in the food-and-beverage, hospitality, or retail industries. So far, 1,625 businesses are participating.
Officials laid out this list, explaining how to participate:
- Download the free Open Rewards: Shop Local app on Google Play or the App Store
- Sign up
- Go to a local restaurant or retailer listed within the app and spend $50
- Pay for the purchase as usual
- Upload the receipt to Shop San Joaquin — Open Rewards app (or link a credit card to automate this step)
- Receive 100% cash back rewards in the account once the receipt is approved
- Redeem the rewards on future purchases at eligible businesses or continue to save up the rewards.
There’s a $50 reward cap per transaction for a total of $200 in rewards per calendar year. Nicole Snyder, the deputy director for the San Joaquin County Employment and Economic Development Department, joined KCRA 3 Wednesday morning to talk about the program.
“What we really intend to do with this program is to continue the economic recovery of the retail and hospitality industries that were severely impacted by the pandemic,” she said. “It also benefits county residents by basically giving them funding to spend through a reimbursement model.”
This comes as new data from the Commerce Department shows retail spending has been holding mostly steady since the beginning of the year. Last month’s reading was better than the outright decline economists had projected.
https://www.kcra.com/article/shop-san-joaquin-rewards-small-businesses-program/61624215