Dune Dollars aim to keep money local

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - The City of Grand Haven took a financial hit when a national gift-certificate program went bust, and the city is still paying to honor those checks if people use them at local businesses.

Now, the city has its own program running and they're hoping it will keep shopping dollars on the lakeshore.

After the last gift-check program went belly-up, Grand Haven decided to give it another go, this time with Dune Dollars.

Dayton-Ohio based Certifichecks were popular in communities across West Michigan, including Grand Haven. When the company filed for bankruptcy it was up to those communities to figure out where to go from there.

"Of course that put a halt to our entire program, as it did across the nation, so that was a huge hit for the chamber," said Kristen Klempel of the Grand Haven Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber has been forced to honor Certifichecks and eating the cost ever since the program went bust, but now they've come up with a new plan. A locally owned and operated gift-check program called Dune Dollars.

"Anything we can do to keep local first is a positive thing and we have some more control over it. We also have a little more investment," said Tim Riley of The Kirby House.

The certificates don't bring any extra money to the chamber itself, but they do make sure that every dollar is spent in Grand Haven, and in tough times, that's just what business owners like to see.

"Keeping dollars local is so important because those monies get returned back into our economy, they don't go off to another state, another corporate headquarters somewhere, they stay here and we all know how important it is to keep those dollars local," said Lynn Negen of Mackinaw Kites & Toys.

To buy Dune Dollars you can call the Grand Haven Chamber of Commerce or head to their offices.