American Express Canada’s awesome Shop Small offer is back for its summer run! This is an amazing promotion that many Amex Cardmembers eagerly await each year. For the next eight weeks Cardmembers are encouraged to use their Amex Card at participating Shop Small merchants to receive a $5 statement credit each time they spend $10 or more at up to 5 different participating small businesses.
The American Express Shop Small Promotion
If you are unfamiliar with Shop Small, it is an offer from American Express to encourage Canadian Cardmembers to make shopping small part of their daily habits – during the offer, and beyond. Shop Small gives Cardmembers another reason to feel good about backing local businesses as they make the most of their summer.
The promotion offers registered Cardmembers a $5 statement credit each time they spend $10 or more in one transaction at participating Shop Small merchants. You can earn the credit up to 5x from 5 different participating small business locations or online businesses for a total of $25 in statement credits.
For this Shop Small offer, American Express has returned to the roots of the promotion by offering it at merchants in select Canadian cities (plus surrounding areas) and with select online merchants. The cities for this year’s promotion are:
- Calgary
- Montreal
- Ottawa
- Toronto
- Vancouver
Outside of those cities? You can still Shop Small! You could also earn a statement credit at eligible online small businesses in Canada with this Shop Small offer. See a great selection of participating online merchants on Amex’s Online Merchant Directory
Promotion Timeline
The offer runs from June 29 to August 24, 2022
Guide to American Express Shop Small
If you aren’t familiar with American Express’ Shop Small merchants we have a feature to help you out: A step by step guide to the American Express Shop Small Program which shows you how to find merchants who participate in the program.
Amex is accepted at a large and growing number of businesses across Canada, including some of your favourite local spots. In 2021 alone, over 86,500 new businesses began accepting American Express.
Essentially American Express Shop Small merchants aren’t your major nationwide chain stores. Participating in the offer, you will find mom and pop shops, small regional chains, restaurants and other small businesses. The best way to find out which merchants you can use your American Express Card at to earn the statement credit is to go to Amex Maps or the Online Directory and look for businesses on these two websites with both a Shop Small icon (depicted by the blue circular Shop Small logo) and a Shop Small Offer Eligible icon (depicted by a red price tag). Only businesses with both icons are eligible for this offer.
Tips to Maximize the Shop Small offer
Ideally, those looking to maximize the offer will only spend $10 at each location to come out with what is essentially a 50% discount in the form of a statement credit, but I know for me, I don’t even think about that. I’ll simply go to my local merchant and buy what I need whether it is $10, $30 or $300. I will however consider spending more if I am only at $7. I’ll look to see if there is anything else I can grab to get to $10 since I’ll be getting the $5 back – and that is the gist of this promotion. Getting you to spend a little more at these merchants to support small, local businesses this summer!
Registering for the offer
You can register for the Shop Small promotion via Amex Offers on the app or the Amex Canada website. Once logged in, go to the ‘Amex Offers’ section to see the offer and simply click ‘Register your Card’ between June 29 – August 24, 2022. If you do not see the offer listed, it means the enrollment cap has already been reached. Only the first 100,000 Cards to be successfully registered, are eligible for the offer.
Wrapping it up
It’s great to see American Express Canada’s Shop Small promotion return for Summer 2022! We saw the offers already launch in the U.K., France and Germany and were just itching to find out when it would launch here in Canada! The promotion is a great way to support local businesses and educate their Cardmembers on all the places they can use their Amex Card!
Happy shopping!
Learn more about Shop Small here.
The Shop Small offer is available with eligible Cards and merchants. Enrollment cap applies. Other terms apply.
This post was sponsored by American Express Canada however the views and opinions expressed in this review are purely those of Rewards Canada
All images courtesy of American Express