Spend $300 in Lincoln Square This Winter, Get $50 Back

A new holiday shopping rebate could put $52,000 back into Lincoln Square this winter.

The Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce is giving away a $50 restaurant gift card if residents spend $300 in at least three local businesses.

The Unwrap Lincoln Square and Ravenswood offer extends to the first 150 people who submit receipts and includes more than 250 businesses in the area. It applies to shopping done from Nov. 23 to Dec. 24, and all receipts must be turned into the chamber by Jan. 11.

“For us, it’s a win/win for retailers and restaurants because we're the ones purchasing the gift cards,” said Rudy Flores, the newly-tapped chamber executive director. “We’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback, and not just from our typical members. They’re like, ‘Wow, what’s the catch?’”

For Tracy Kellner, there is no catch. Participating is completely free for businesses whether or not they have a chamber membership.

Kellner has owned Provenance Food and Wine in Lincoln Square for the past five years.

“By December, our marketing budget is exhausted,” she said. “We get asked for a lot of donations and we’re more than happy to help out, but this is something we can do without a cost.”

Keller said her business earns 50 percent of its revenue from September to December. She’s already seen enough growth this year to know the holidays are going to be busier than in years past.

The initiative works, according to a study by the Institute for Local Self Reliance. Neighborhoods with a ‘buy local’ program have an uptake of more than 5 percent revenue.

A 2004 study in Andersonville compared the amount of every dollar that goes back into the economy for both local and chain businesses.

Researchers found $68 out of every $100 spent in a local business went back into the Chicago economy. That’s compared to a chain store, where $43 of every $100 remained in the community.

Residents can also take a pledge to shift least $100 of their holiday shopping to a local business this winter. If every one of the 1,045,560 households in Chicago kept the pledge, more than $25 million would be shifted back into the economy, according to the study.

The Unwrap Campaign is a Chicago-wide initiative sponsored by Eat, Drink and Buy Local, a nonprofit organization that educates the public on shopping local.

More details about the program can be found on the chamber's website.