Book of Bargains expiring due to low interest

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

After a successful inaugural year for Strathmore’s only coupon book, the Book of Bargains will not be releasing a 2019-20 book due to low repeat participation interest from businesses issuing coupons.
The initiative was started in 2018 when Assist Business Centre carried forward their idea of creating a coupon book geared specifically towards smaller communities in hopes of keeping people shopping local and doubling as a fundraiser for local children’s charities and clubs.
The 2018 Strathmore Book of Bargains was released with coupons from 53 advertising businesses and five different supporters, some of which had multiple coupons. This year, only 15 businesses have responded as interested in issuing coupons for a new book.
“We did this to encourage shop local and create a fundraising opportunity to local groups… at present we don’t have enough repeat participation to publish a second book,” said Grace Schouten, owner of Assist Business Centre.
The 2018 book was available both in a physical book format and in an app format that provided data usage information to the creators. Approximately 800 books were sold for $20 each including GST. From that price, $10 was donated from the sale of each book, totalling $8,000 this past year that was given back to the five local clubs that were selling the books.
The 903 Air Cadets, Strathmore Scouts, Matrix Cheer, Lions Clubs and Wheatland Crossing School all made money for their programs by selling the books.
Schouten said they had a goal of selling at least 2,000 books annually in Strathmore, with a minimum of 50 contributors advertising their services and coupons.
“These books were intended to encourage shop local as well (to) bring awareness to the diverse businesses that we have in our community and the things that are available,” said Schouten. She added that even if a coupon wasn’t used, it was looked at by a captive audience multiple times as people flipped through the book, bringing additional awareness of local businesses.
Designed small enough to fit into a pocket or purse, with plenty of coupons designed to make back the purchaser’s value after only a couple of coupon uses, and with data information collected such as having two coupons redeemed within the first hour of release of the inaugural book, Schouten was surprised not to receive an outpouring of business support for the second model.
“The book was meant to cover our costs of sales and manufacturing and administration. It provided additional employment opportunities in our business and so supported the community in multiple ways. It was really a fundraiser and shop local initiative… we felt that it was a clean, easy way for groups to make money easily and had the potential to bring in large dollar amounts for the groups,” she said. Custom books have also been released in other small communities, such as Okotoks, High River, Black Diamond and Turner Valley.
Assist Business Centre would consider publishing a 2019 Book of Bargains in Strathmore with an October availability date if enough businesses expressed interest within the next couple of weeks. If a business is interested in participating, contact Assist Business Centre at 403-983-2727 or email service@assistbusinesscentre.ca.
“I think shopping local is important to your community. When people operate a business, they pay taxes. Taxes pay for programs and more. If people don’t support the businesses, they won’t survive,” said Schouten, who added that they are appreciative of all the contributors to the 2018-19 book that is expiring at the end of the month, and hope to be able to work on a new Book of Bargains book in the future.