Gift card initiative aiming to support local business expands to West Virginia – WTAP

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) – A gift card initiative meant to encourage spending at local businesses has expanded to West Virginia. It’s now available in 104 towns and cities across the state, some of which are in WTAP’s viewing area.

The initiative is led by Giverrang. Its cofounder Mark Walerysiak Jr said of the gift cards, “It’s a really powerful way to support small, local, independent businesses…,”

The gift cards works like a Mastercard, except it’s limited to the specific town or city you buy it for and it can’t be spent at big chain stores.

Walerysiak Jr said it’s meant to make supporting local businesses more convenient.

“What tends to happens is shopping locally for somebody tends to be both confusing and inconvenient because they don’t know what’s the great small business to go to or ‘is the gift recipient going to like that one restaurant that I got that one gift card to?’” he explained.

You can buy a gift card online at indiegiftcard.com. All you have to do is search for your city or town then click the link. You can get gift cards anywhere from $5 to $500 in value.

For Giverrang’s gift cards in West Virginia, the funds last forever. However, if you don’t either use the card or check its balance for a year, the card loses its value by five percent. The physical cards themselves expire after about six years but you can get a replacement card with all the money left on it for $5 if that happens.

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