About Us

Our company was founded in a basement in Brookline, with the goal of helping local business owners. After a conversation with his hairdresser about how tough it was for businesses like hers to advertise and get discovered, our founder set on a mission to figure out a better way. Those early ideas laid the foundation for what is now a growing business, actively disrupting traditional advertising and referral programs. To date, there's nothing else quite like Nift.

Our first Nift network was established in Brookline, Massachusetts. That same hairdresser became our first member. She helped to spread the word, and soon we had about a dozen businesses buying and selling gifts. Each time they bought a gift for one of their existing customers, they'd meet a customer from another neighborhood business in return. It was wild!

The hair salon introduced customers to the puzzle shop and the clothing boutique down the street. The children's clothing store introduced customers to a local photographer and the neighborhood liquor store. Everyone gave their customers gifts, and that made customers happy. And everyone met new customers, which made the business owners happy, too. That's when we knew we were on to something.

Nift fills neighborhood
businesses with customers

with customers better than anything else out there.

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Member Businesses

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People

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Gifts Given

$ 0

Generated in Sales


Why local? Why small?

Call it a Robin-Hood streak or just wanting to do the right thing, we believe in helping real people—the mom and pop shops that make our nation great. We know that every dollar spent at a local shop returns more than double (some say triple) to the local economy than one spent at a chain or big box store. Local stores give our neighborhoods character, they donate much more to our schools and local charities, and they pay taxes which keep our towns alive.

We know that running your own business is tough. Competition is fierce with big box stores and huge online retailers. We want to level the playing field a bit. Not just because shopping local is better for the environment and boosts neighborhood property values. We want to help because these are our friends and neighbors. Over half of our country works in a “small business.” That's 120 million people. All around, we know that shopping "small" is huge.






Working hand in hand with business owners.

From the very beginning, we've worked closely with business owners to create a product that really works for them. Their partnership is invaluable to us, and we are so grateful for their collaboration. We've also joined forces with several local first organizations and neighborhood business groups. If you're interested in helping to strengthen your local economy, we'd welcome an opportunity to speak with you and share how Nift helps small businesses grow.



Sources:
www.amiba.net/resources/localhero/
www.forbes.com/sites/jasonnazar/2013/09/09/16-surprising-statistics-about-small-businesses/
www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-salguero/why-buying-local-is-worth_b_4310520.html
www.grasshopper.com/resources/articles/small-business-saturday-statistics/
www.ilsr.org/key-studies-why-local-matters/#1