Ashtead’s village traders are to reward customers under a new loyalty card scheme.
The Support Ashtead Shops card will launch on July 1 and more than 30 shops have already signed up.
Retailers have been working on the scheme since April and each shop will give a different reward, so shoppers could receive anything from spending points to free gifts.
Zen George, who came up with the idea, said she thought a card would do well because of the number of independent shops.
She said: “The days of opening your doors and waiting for people to come in are long gone in retail and we need to do something to get people to support local shops.”
Mrs George added a previous campaign against Tesco in the village, when more than 6,000 people signed a petition in favour of local shops, had shown people cared about home-grown businesses.
Barbara Kay, who runs Bumbles, a gift shop on the High Street, said she was excited by the loyalty cards.
“She said: “I’ve never done anything in retail quite like this before.”
Similar loyalty schemes have proved successful in other parts of the country.
More than 2,500 people signed up to a loyalty card scheme in Penzance on its first day and a programme for shops in North Yorkshire saw 80 businesses join within a month.
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