GET TO KNOW KEEP IT LOCAL 21
Andy & Laura aka Keep It Local!
Hello and welcome to our world!
We have always loved to spend our hard-earned cash in the local economy. Born and bred Stokies, we are passionate about local heritage, local business and local people.
Having been married for over 20 years, living on the Staffordshire, Cheshire border we have 3 grown up children and our Shar Pei cross Jack.
In 2021 Andy started an Instagram page, posting infrequent local food and drink posts (primarily local beer) after a very short time the page had over 300 followers and that's when I (Laura) realised that Andy had captured something special! From September 2021 we dedicated our weekends and evenings to Keep It Local.
During the remainder of 2021 and throughout 2022 the page saw huge growth and after building a network of wonderful local brands and businesses, the idea to work closely with these businesses to create unique geographically based products together whilst building and contributing to a wider community based project became a reality.
Fast forward to the back of 2022 and we have attended multiple local artisan markets with our collabs, launched network events, organised our own Pop up Shops and Markets.
Our mantra is, to inspire and encourage people to shop local, to promote collaboration and show that working together is so much better than working in isolation and to create a platform for local businesses to network with each other and to support and encourage local people to take those first steps into running their own small business.
Our services include our online shop, showcasing some of the best creative talent.
Our Pop up market at The Sneyd Arms, Keele, Staffordshire.
Our Keep It Local 21 Networking events aim to help both existing and new businesses extend their knowledge and to take their first step into business by collaboration and creating a Community.
Our Pop Up Shops - this aims to generate additional revenue for small artisan businesses and allows exposure to new geographical locations with no long term risk associated with a permanent retail location.
Keep It Local Community - Our very own Community, offering local creative businesses guaranteed places at our events plus discounted fees and commissions.