Buy Beaches First - Our Story

The Tampa Bay Beaches Chamber of Commerce launched Buy Beaches First - A shop local movement. The campaign started in October of 2015 where a social media contest brought light to our small businesses. We asked shoppers to; whenever they were at a local, beach business with #BuyBeachesFirst.
In turn, each week, the TBBCoC randomly selected one lucky shopper to receive a prize donated by one of our members. The response we got was incredible, to say the least. Locals and visitors from all over were using the hashtag and we were proud to mark themselves as a beach community supporter. What started as a short, holiday-season campaign, turned into a movement.
#BuyBeachesFirst not only redefined what it meant to shop-local, but what Community mindedness exemplified.