The Journey of a €20 Note

The people in this story are characters we created. The journey it describes happens in towns across Leinster every day.

The star was drawn in blue biro, no bigger than a fingernail, in the bottom corner of a €20 note.

Nine-year-old Ella drew it on a Friday night while her mum, Niamh, counted the takings at the small bookshop she runs on a side street in Tullamore. "So we'll know it if it ever comes back," Ella said. Niamh laughed and put it in her purse.

She didn't expect to see it again.

9:15am: The café

On Saturday morning, Niamh paid for two coffees and a scone with the starred note. Behind the counter, Declan, who has run the café for eleven years, dropped it in the till without a glance.

11:00am: The farm stall

At eleven, Declan walked down to the Saturday market to pay Bridget for the free-range eggs that go into every breakfast he serves. The note went into the pouch on her belt.

1:30pm: The barber

After the market, Bridget's son Cian needed a haircut before a wedding. Bridget handed him the note. Cian handed it to Paddy, who has cut hair on the same street for thirty years and remembers everyone's father.

3:00pm: The garage

Paddy's car had been making a noise. The mechanic, Joanne, found a loose heat shield and fixed it in twenty minutes. "Twenty euro and we'll call it even," she said. The note with the blue star went into her overalls.

6:00pm: The chipper

Joanne finished late and picked up dinner for her family on the way home. The note crossed one more counter, into the till of a chipper that's been feeding the town since before she was born.

7:45pm: Home

That evening, Niamh stopped into the same chipper with Ella. She paid with a fifty. In her change, folded in half, was a €20 note.

Ella grabbed it before her mum could put it away. She turned it over, and there it was in the bottom corner: a small blue star.

What the star tells us

In one day, the same €20 paid for coffee, eggs, a haircut, a car repair and a family dinner. It passed through five local businesses and the families behind them, and it never left Tullamore.

That's the quiet power of spending locally. Money spent with a local business is more likely to be spent again nearby, on wages, suppliers and other local services. Money spent with a large online retailer usually leaves the town after one transaction.

You won't always get your star back. But every time you choose a local café, garage or shop, you're putting it into circulation in your own town.

The hard part is knowing who's there

Most of us would happily shop local more often. The problem is that local businesses can be hard to find. Many don't have big websites or advertising budgets, and they get buried under national chains in search results.

That's why we built Leinster Local: a directory of local businesses across Leinster's 12 counties, from cafés and barbers to mechanics, farm shops and trades.

• Looking for someone local? Search for businesses in Offaly and find them in minutes.
• Run a local business? Add your business free, so the next person with a €20 note in their pocket can find you.

And if you ever find a note with a small blue star in the corner, you'll know it's been on a journey.