SHOP INDIE DAY

An Instagram flashmob to celebrate our wonderful

independent brick-and-mortar shops.

27th of October @ 9 -10 am

THE WHY

To celebrate our wonderful independent brick-and-mortar retailers around the country. Who, with their curated range of products, help bring our communities to life, create a meeting point where we can be inspired, and find hidden treasures. They are the future of our high streets, a source of creativity, and the key to keeping our villages, towns and cities vibrant. Together, we can support them, for if we don't, we risk losing these beloved gems that make our communities truly special.

THE NAME

We called it Shop Indie day because it perfectly describes what we want everyone to do.

GOAL

Use our joint reach to make some noise for independent shops this October payday. If we can get 50-100 businesses to join in, we may reach 250-500 thousand people!!!

GET INVOLVED

Shopkeepers, brand owners and customers, below you, will find all the details and resources you need to get involved. Including copy and paste messages so you can help spread the word.

A PERSONAL NOTE

This payday, October 27th, we want to make a lot of noise on Instagram, and we need your help!

Together, we want to celebrate our amazing independent brick-and-mortar shops up and around the country and make some noise by gathering a big group of independent shopkeepers, brands, and shoppers to create one reel each and post it at the same time. Think of a flash mob, but for Instagram.

Mary Portas says “Independent shops are the future of our high streets”, and we couldn't agree more, so this is the theme for the reels..

Our independent brick-and-mortar retailers work tirelessly to curate products from both big and small brands to inspire us. To infuse our communities with life, inspiration and hidden treasures. They are fiercely passionate about the products they stock, and the key part they play in keeping our high streets, towns, and villages vibrant and attractive places to visit and spend time together.

Together, we can support them; if we don't, we risk losing these beloved gems that make our communities truly special.

Get involved by posting your reel, on the 27th of October, ideally at or around 9-10 am. However, if you post later than that, that’s okay too.

Use hashtag #shopindieday, and invite @shopindieday as a collaborator to your post, and we will end up with an online directory of brilliant small shops. Use the stickers on your reels and stories, search shopindieday to find it.

The stickers, and logo have very kindly been donated by Grace Jackson Design. Please give her a follow and have a look at her fab range of greeting cards and stationery.

Below, you will find reel instructions and scripts so you can save time. You don’t have to stick to this, but we wanted to make it as easy to take part as possible.

If you have time, we would love your help spreading the word. Tell all your friends, stockists, customers and brands.

And if you have a shop, email all your brands with a few pictures and videos of your shop they can use to take part. It doesn’t have to be polished or fancy (below is some copy-and-paste text you can use to send this email).

Thank you so much for being a part of this.

Therese and Beck xx

Small Business Collaborative and Prior Shop

REEL IDEAS

These are ideas to help you save time. You don't have to follow these and can make your own thing. The important thing is to show off a lovely brick-and-mortar shop, or several, that you love.

FOR THE SHOPKEEPER

Show off your shop, what makes it brilliant, and show, and talk about all the amazing products from small businesses that you stock and why you stock them. Let your passion shine through.

If you’re not a face to camera person, do this instead, use pictures and video’s of your shop, ideally starting with the shop front and walking in, and do a voice over following the script below:

Welcome to _[NAME OF SHOP]_, you can find us in _[PLACE]_. Inside, you can find a curated range of beautiful _[TYPE OF PRODUCTS YOU SELL]_ from some of the UK’s (and further afield) most inspiring small businesses. When I opened my shop in _[MONTH/YEAR]_, I wanted to create a space for my local community and visitors to come and feel inspired and find great gifts, both for themselves and their friends and families. Next time you’re in the area, do pop in, get inspired, start your Christmas shopping, discover what’s new, and have a chat.

FOR THE BRAND OWNER

Show off your stockists and their brilliant shops, visit and film if you can, or ask them for pictures/videos of their shop, or ask if you can borrow some from their social media/website. Tell your audience why you love being stocked by them and how important it is to your business to have these partnerships.

If you’re not a face-to-camera person, do this instead, use pictures and videos of your shop, ideally starting with the shop front and walking in, and do a voice-over following the script below:

Did you know that you can shop my range of _[YOUR PRODUCTS]_ in lots of lovely independent brick-and-mortar shops up and down the country. This is something I am so proud of, and I love that you can visit these stockists to touch, smell, and experience my products in real life. So today, I wanted to share some of the places you can find _[YOUR BRAND}_. Independent shops like these, are such an important part of our communities, please remember to support them by shopping with them this Christmas.

FOR THE
CUSTOMER

If you’re a maker, service provider, and shopper in independent shops, show off your favourite/local shops, the ones you visit all the time, and share why you love shopping there, and how it makes you feel. You can visit to take pictures/film, or, talk about some of your recent purchases from the shop instead.

Here’s a script you can use for a voice-over:

This Christmas, I pledge to shop independently with some of my favourite local shops. I love having _[SHOP NAME]_ to visit on a day out, and I always feel inspired to pick something up. My last purchase was _[SHOW OFF YOUR LATEST FIND]_ for _[WHO WAS IT FOR]_. Remember, we have to use our local shops and support them if we want to keep them. So this Christmas, show that you would like these shops to stick around by shopping with them.

COPY AND PASTE MESSAGES TO USE

These are to save you time, of course you are more than welcome to use your own messaging.

For shopkeepers to invite the brands you stock

On the 27th of October, I’m participating in an Instagram flash mob to celebrate our lovely independent shop. The idea is to create as much noise for independent shops like mine as possible by all posting a reel around the same time, on the same day. To achieve this, I would love to invite you to consider taking part. You can find all the details you need here.

And I’ve attached some short clips of the front of the shop and inside that you are more than welcome to use to take part.

For brand owners to their stockists

On the 27th of October, I’m taking part in an Instagram flash mob to celebrate you and other wonderful independent brick-and-mortar stores to remind shoppers what a pleasure it is to shop in places like yours. The idea is to create as much noise for independent shops as possible by all posting a reel around the same time, on the same day. To achieve this, I would love to invite you to consider participating. You can find all the details that you need here.

For brand owners to their customers

This week, I want to shout out some of my wonderful stockists where you can go and see, touch, and smell my products in real life. I am so proud to be stocked by some wonderful independent brick-and-mortar shops, who all work hard to create inspiring spaces for us all to shop in.

That’s why I’ve decided to participate in Shop Indie Day on the 27th of October to celebrate my stockists and all independent brick-and-mortar stores and remind everyone what a pleasure it is to shop in places like this.

The idea is to create as much noise for independent shops as possible by all posting a reel around the same time, on the same day. To achieve this, I would love to invite you to take part, by posting about your favourite independent shops. You can find all the details you need here. Or if social media posting is not your thing, I would love it if you get involved by commenting and liking my post on the 27th of October.

For the customer

If you don’t have any stockists yet or are a service provider or someone who loves shopping in independent shops.

We need your help too!

On the 27th of October, I’m participating in an Instagram flash mob to celebrate shopping independent this Christmas. The idea is to create as much noise for independent shops as possible by all posting a reel around the same time, on the same day. To achieve this, I would love to invite you to consider taking part. You can find all the details you need here.

BEFORE YOU GO

Thank you so much for being a part of this. If anything is unclear at all, or you have any questions. Please DM @small_business_collaborative, or email on therese@smallbusinesscollaborative.co.uk

FOLLOW ON INSTA

Follow @shopindieday. Invite this account to be as a collaborator on your post on the day.

This way, we should have a great collection of independent shops to support this Christmas all saved in one place.

STICKERS

Search "shopindieday" on Instagram when creating your reel, and sharing on stories.

Find the logo and some fun story templates in this Google folder.

USE HASHTAG

Use hashtag #shopindieday when you post your reel.

WHO'S TAKING PART

To encourage others, I will add your logos and a backlink to your website/socials when you pledge to participate. To be added, please send me your logo and website to therese@smallbusinesscollaborative.co.uk, and add SHOP INDIE DAY to the subject line, this will be updated up until the 27th of October.