People who love Wedge Card obviously are great people themselves

We are very grateful to two very superb companies who supported our Shop Local Challenge last week in the East End. www.welovelocal.com have been active friends, counsel and champions since they launched earlier this year. They have spread the word about Wedge Card and helped us with our mission. We think you should all go and take a look at the great site they created which allows you to review your favourite local shops and find recommendations on ones you’d like to try. A genius idea (we wish we’d thought of it first).

Another super company who helped us in our efforts in the East was Sanctuary Hereward an organisation providing affordable housing and promoting community cohesion. Their support of Wedge Card shows how willing they are to extend their truly community focused work in recognition of how local shops are the lifeblood of our neighbourhoods. www.sanctuary-housing.co.uk/

Lastly we thank all of those people who rose to the challenge of Shop Local week and bought Wedge Cards, used their local shops, talked to us in the rain when we looked like drowned rats and signed up.

Viva independent shops everywhere!

Get the shopping experience you deserve

We know that life is busy/expensive/difficult/confusing. We know that there are so many things to think about and reasons the world is going to ruin (and it always seems to be our fault!). We don’t want to add to your burden, we want to lighten the load. We want shopping to be fun, good value, full of wondrous products - the kind of experience you deserve. In our journey through local shops we have discovered some real gems, enclaves of Indy brilliance and really sweet shopkeepers that will make your shopping experience just brill. And it is these that we want to share with you.

If you need further convincing just look at some of the independent experiences you could be having this Xmas with a Wedge Card:

Get that vintage style with a free wardrobe style makeover at Butterfly Girl in Brentford. (Plus 10% off over £85)
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420429

Walk your way to good health, hearty times and new experiences with the Ramblers association. (20% off membership)
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420487


Sauciness comes in good taste and welcoming surroundings at the sex shop Sh! in Hoxton Square. The staff are friendly and the women only door policy (men can only come with a woman) makes it even more so. (10% off, excluding books & tampons)
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420458

Cycle fanatics will impart wise words and good gear to you at Two Wheels Good in Stoke Newington. (10% off)
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420225

Have a drink at the neighbourly a real local pub The Three Kings in Farringdon.
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420112

Feeling stuffy/groggy/fluey or hung-over seems a prerequisite for Xmas. Your local pharmacy is the place to head. We’ve got 9 on Wedge:
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=tagged&tag=pharmacy

You could be boogying with the boogiest band on earth - The Earthlights Boogie Band (5% off).
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420347

You can start all of your New Year’s get-fit, get-healthy-, de-stress and generally loved up with your mind and body early at Breathe…Mind, Body, Spirit Studio in SE1. (10% off).
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/merchant/index.php?op=show&id=420072

There. Job done!
www.wedgecard.co.uk

Wedge Card invades East End

Our wee Wedge is one year old.

In celebration we decided to bring everything we’ve learnt together in a week long Shop Local Challenge we hosted in Hackney last week. Our Wedge team took to the streets to entice people with cookies and stickers into talking our Shop Local challenge, because we have found that when people try their local shops more often than not they love them.

Here is what my mum said about her challenge:
‘I always go to Café Nero in Twickenham, It’s my routine and they have good coffee. I have to say I’m really anxious about getting a good coffee and have always been reluctant to try independent shops in case they weren’t good. But under the duress of the Shop Local Challenge I visited a little Italian café with my daughter and grandson in Twickenham lanes. The coffee was spectacular but the best thing was the Italian lady who ran it and one of her customers loved my grandson and played with him so my daughter and I could relax and chat. It was a really good find.’

We hope everyone who took the challenge found equally good gems.

Spice Girls and Tesco deserve each other!

Recently it was announced the Spice Girls advertising relationship with Tesco is to continue. I for one am very pleased. Who else but this vacuous pop group who are just in to make big bucks should represent well, the supermarket equivalent. Their first foray into popdom was quite revolting to me. The Spice Girls only seemed to promote a love of flashing their knickers, child-sized bottoms and shiny hair to our female youth (if you're going to do that please don't call it 'girl power', that's a joke).

So now I get to display our pop credentials: Jarvis Cocker, Sinead O'Connor and Suggs support us. Need we say more about how different our independent shops are?
http://www.wedgecard.co.uk/modules/news/article.php?storyid=108

Life gets better when you marry American

There was a time when anonymity was attractive to me. Perhaps it was because I was a very self conscious teen/twenty something. One of my favourite places to sit was the Starbucks attached to Sainsbury’s. Whilst sipping watery bitter coffee, surrounded by the glaring tungsten lights, I would relish the anonymity.

I was jarred into thinking, Perhaps There is Another Way when I acquired a friendly American (husband) who didn’t have the hang-ups I did, and would talk to everyone. The woman at the newsagent would tell him her marital woes, the kids in the house next door would high five him on his way to work, and the rude restaurateur would let him stroke his whiney little dogs on their morning walk. At first I was worried he was breaking such a strict moral code that some authority figure would apprehend him and explain the rules, only letting him go with a warning. This clearly reveals my disturbed mind (unfortunately this is just the tip of the iceberg).

I let the desire for friendliness to strangers bubble away inside of me until it burst out after a big life change. My son arrived and after a slew of visitors just when you don’t need them I was suddenly alone. There is not much you can do when you have a small baby, nothing that lasts more than about 5 minutes. But you can shop, talk and walk. So that’s what I did. I knew no one in my neighbourhood. But six months of thrice a day shopping and I was suddenly chatting to the butcher, shooting the breeze with our landlord and conversing with old ladies in the park. I even made some friends.

It was because my area was full of little shops, a park and lots of communal space that I was able to do this. It was with this feeling that I decided to do something to promote local shops. And hence Wedge Card was born. You can all say ahhhh now. And we all lived happy ever after.

Competition Commission - we need a more holistic approach

Last week I spent £65.50 on my shopping. I'm an extravagant shopper, but I like to have lots of goodies to eat in my house of 2 1/2 people. I went to 5 of my local shops. I bought some succulent mangoes, some vivid fragrant coriander and some organic, flavourful beef amongst other things. I know all of my shop keepers even though I've lived in my area for only 2 months. My son was cuddled and cooed over. Several sweets were offered. My newsagent told me about the ins and outs of running a marathon. I met a mother from our nursery.

It took me 40 minutes door to door and I didn't drive. I have done a similar shop at Waitrose (£95) and at Tesco (£78). Neither competes in terms of quality of fruit, veg, meat and fish in my eyes.

I am lucky. I have lots of local shops near me. I keep an eye on the prices and know which shops are better for which. People continue to flock to this area and the ready made community that these little shops create. My mother lives in an area with no local shops. Her nearest is a massive Tesco. She doesn't know anyone in her area (except her immediate neighbours). She has been there 15 years.

Having lots of local shops fosters a sense of community. We therefore have to look much closer at the role shops play. We can't thrown their role in the landscape of our lives off lightly. This report is short sighted. Let's look at the dominating role they play in our communities and take a more holistic approach.

Community - a dirty word?

We've been writing some new ads here at Wedge Card and in the hope that lots of people would like them we ask lots of people what they thought. 9/10 said 'Don't use the word community; it makes you sound reallllllly boring.' There is of course the chance we asked some really sub standard people (that wouldn't surprise us they were our friends and family members after all).

Part of me wanted to throw something at them when they showed revulsion for what I think is such an empowering and positive concept. What's so wrong with knowing your neighbours and feeling a sense of togetherness with the people around you? Are the only people who are good the ones you know and the rest dismissed merely because you don't know them? Or is the only acceptable form of community nowadays one that's virtual? I know I'm not cool, but that would be very sad.

I may have got this ass-upwards. Tell me, is community such a dirty word?