Shoppers cash in on city gift card scheme

A scheme encouraging people to support High Street favourites and independent businesses is continuing.

Over the Christmas period, recipients of the Sunderland Gift Card spent thousands of pounds in dozens of Sunderland retail and hospitality outlets.

And there is still a huge number of cards waiting to be redeemed once lockdown is over.

The scheme, the result of a partnership between Sunderland BID and Sunderland City Council, now has 120 businesses signed up to accept it.

While many of the 1,900 cards sold have not been spent, other shoppers have taken advantage of them, cashing in at clothing stores such as Primark, Aphrodite, Jack and Jill and BouChique and restaurants including 2 Church Lane, Asiana, San Marino at Chester

Road and the Stack Seaburn.

Other stores accepting them include Lush, Marks & Spencer, Boots, Robsons, Ibbitson’s, Greggs, Ashbrooke Florists, Bethanys Florists, Charlotte’s House of Flowers plus independents including Ginka, Dream Candy, Made by Sally and Port Independent.

Sharon Appleby, Head of Business Operations, at Sunderland BID, said: “The gift card was fantastically well received and we are delighted to see so many businesses benefiting from them.

“There are so many positives in buying the cards, from supporting the local economy to the sheer variety of places that they can be spend.”

The cards can be bought for amounts between £5 and £500 online at www.sunderlandgiftcard.com