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A local company has created a website for businesses to sell their gift cards to the public while many are seeing reduced revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Movista, a software development company based in Bentonville, created a website, SupportLocalNWA.com, which will soon allow local businesses to offer their gift cards online with 100% of the proceeds going directly to local small businesses.
Fayetteville resident and Movista employee Liz Slape, who owns Crisis Brewing Company and whose family owns Penguin Ed’s Barbecue, has been spearheading the project. Slape said that outside of the third-party fees charged by Paypal, Venmo, etc., Movista will not be charge any fees to purchase the gift cards.
The site is currently seeking businesses to register for the service, and plans to begin selling to the public by this Friday, March 20.
From the site:
SupportLocalNWA.com is an online marketplace to purchase gift card vouchers to locally-owned, small businesses across Northwest Arkansas. Our goal is to help local businesses survive this crisis, and thrive once it has passed. If no action is taken, some of these businesses may not be around 8 weeks from now.
We’re not asking for charity. We simply ask you to lean in a little bit to support those businesses you already frequent. They get some cash to help keep their doors open, pay their bills and support their employees — your friends and neighbors in the community.
100% of the money spent on this site goes directly to our local businesses. This site exists solely to support our friends and neighbors in a time of need.
You can redeem these gift card vouchers now or at your leisure.
Businesses can register here.
We’ll post an update on the Flyer once the site is ready to begin selling gift cards.
