How ChooseCBR discount vouchers were used in Canberra shops

This was nearly a quarter of the $2,000,290 spent overall, which went to 798 businesses.

Nearly 200 businesses had customers redeem 10 or fewer vouchers, documents released under freedom of information showed.

Kye Moran's 3D printing business Killing Prints was one of eight shops who only saw one voucher worth $10 redeemed.

"I felt quite disappointed - it felt as if it was almost like it was planned by those businesses [that made the most money]," he said.

"I was more hoping that it could be free advertisement ... in which it kind of did succeed, because I had a couple of people who were interested. But with the downtime ChooseCBR had, and also how quickly it went then, it lost interest pretty quickly."

As a consumer as well as a business owner, he said he wished the money had lasted longer than three days.

"It was a bit disappointing that it just ran out so quickly ... the amount of money that government was putting forth was very generous. I just reckon they probably should have capped it at a store," he said.

Eight of the top-10-selling stores were Asian groceries, with Daily Market Groceries taking the top spot.

Chemist Warehouse Belconnen ranked at number three, benefiting from 1366 vouchers; while Dickson restaurant and bubble tea spot Wukong Hotpot & Super Emoji sold 878.

Children's toy and uniform shop Chilada - which has stores in Majura and Gungahlin - ranked number 21, with customers redeeming 489 vouchers valued at $19,630 overall.

This included director Fen Li's other business VR Reality, which she said only had a few vouchers redeemed.

Ms Li said she started advertising to parents four weeks before the scheme launched through school newsletters and social media, and ordered extra stock in preparation.

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She also sold gift vouchers valid for two years, which she said were already available to purchase before the scheme.

"We have a good range of things - we do have school uniforms which are essential for people, and good-quality shoes, school shoes," she said.

She said the shop struggled through the pandemic and the scheme allowed parents to save on essential items while supporting the business.

"We have followed the government protocols, we did all the right things. It's a really good deal for parents, and it's good for me because we sold a lot of stock, but we have given the ability to not use it on the day," she said.

"It's very reasonable for them to buy a gift card ... We are one of the retails that are actually struggling, so I'm glad we got this scheme from the government."

Ms Li said the program should have been limited to retailers that struggled through the pandemic, saying supermarkets were essential and should have been excluded.

Some of the surprise top sellers included Sycamore Medi Spa in the city, which benefited from 662 vouchers; takeaway restaurant Fresco Seafood in Franklin, with 723 vouchers, and Gungahlin & Jamison Plaza Travel Associates at 385 vouchers, valued all up at $19,160.

Mr Moran said the process to register his business with ChooseCBR was "really simple".

"You had to fill out your business name, contact details. And then you just had to provide bank details of where the money goes to," he said.

"I generally run off PayPal only. So they're like, well, as long as you can keep receipts, that's fine. So I just had to show that I had a working PayPal account."

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