The local business community is looking to compete with the marketing campaigns of the national stores coming into Palm Springs.

Local business owners from Palm Springs are partnering with the city on a new campaign called, “Uniquely Palm Springs”, as a way to get people to shop more at locally owned stores.

Jeffrey Bernstein is the co-owner of Destination PSP, it is one of many locally owned shops in Palm Springs.

Bernstein said, “We have a lot of great national chains and stuff but what really makes Palm Springs really unique are the locally owned businesses.”

But he said the store’s budget for marketing materials does not compete with the campaigns national stores are able to afford.

Bernstein said, “We are a small business we cannot afford a major marketing campaign, and I think a lot of small businesses are on the same boat as us.”

He said all of the development and new businesses in Palm Springs has owners like himself in need of help to promote their shops.

The “Uniquely Palm Springs” campaign was an idea by the business community and executed by the city, the Palm Springs Visitor’s Center and the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce. Local stores and the stories behind them will be on display on “uniquelyps.com”, a website where locals and visitors can learn about the shops.

Ross Mathews is an author and television personality who lives in Palm Springs part-time. Mathews is also a board member with the city’s chamber of commerce in support of the campaign.

Mathews said, “Driving by the construction here, there and there, it is so crucial that during that progressiveness we are celebrating those small businesses that are crucial to our economy here.”

Also taking a stake in the local business economy are cannabis shops. The first cannabis smoke lounge in Southern California opened in Palm Springs with plans for more in the future.

The Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem said, “We’ve always been in a valley of tourism, health-care, and agriculture, and cannabis is really a growth of that agricultural market.”

But there is no denying all of the”new” makes people curious. Bernstein said, “And actually all of the new development in downtown has really helped bring a lot of the locals out.”

The “Uniquely Palm Springs” campaign continues through July 27, learn more about the stores and the shop owners on, here.

“Uniquely Palm Springs” Campaign to Shop at Locally Owned Stores