By KELSEY UNRUH

Staff writer

Want to receive rewards for shopping locally? There’s an app for that.

Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce launched a Hillsboro First campaign Aug. 1, along with an accompanying shopping punch card phone app, and focuses on keeping shoppers in town.

“The Hillsboro First campaign has been on the list of annual goals for at least the last couple of years, but never really got off the ground,” chamber president David Vogel said. “When I started my term as president at the beginning of the year, one of the things I wanted to make sure we got started was that Hillsboro First campaign.”

The chamber met at the beginning of the year to shape up what they wanted to accomplish. One of the ideas out of that meeting was Hillsboro First.

At a later meeting, one idea was to incorporate newer technology into the campaign.

“The idea for the app came out of a desire to accomplish that using a more ‘modern’ media,” Vogel said. “By creating an app, we’re hoping to attract the interest of younger generations, and as a result, make shopping local something that they think about more often.”

The app, which shoppers can download on their mobile devices, is set up like an electronic punch card. It allows shoppers to receive rewards whenever they shop at local merchants.

Ampride gives away a free pizza whenever a shopper fills up their punch card with them.

Others participating in the program include Instaboro, Kessler Kreations, and Vogel Design.

“Right now we have what I’m calling a ‘small but mighty group of early adopters,’” Vogel said. “As word about the app spreads, I hope that other businesses will choose to participate.”

It is easy for businesses to sign up to use it, by contacting Vogel, and it is easy for consumers as well.

“Every time a customer qualifies for a new ‘punch,’ they hand their phone to the cashier and the cashier punches the card,” Vogel said. “Once the customer has finished a card, the business lets the Chamber know, and then we enter that person into a monthly drawing for a $25 Chamber Bucks gift certificate.”

Vogel said that he is excited to see how the program will impact the local businesses.