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City of Merced Shop Local Campaign
The City of Merced, CA

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About City of Merced Shop Local Campaign

The City of Merced is matching 100% of your first order's purchase price on mercedcares.com, up to $75! Spend up $75 and receive up to a $150 gift card!

Have a Business in Merced?

Joining Giftbar via mercedcares.com allows you to accept the gift cards that are being issued to local households as part of the City of Merced Shop Local Campaign program! Learn More »

Press Center

Every girl needs a good gab sesh every now and then

The Restaurant Heroes

Explore Our Partnership With The Restaurant Heroes

We're thrilled to announce our partnership with The Restaurant Heroes, an esteemed organization dedicated to empowering individuals with restaurant knowledge to establish their own consultancy firms. They feature GiftBar as a valuable partner, showcasing the unique benefits our universal gift cards bring to the restaurant industry. To learn more about how our partnership enhances the success of restaurant consultants and enriches the dining experience for customers, check out the featured partner page on The Restaurant Heroes' website. This is a partnership that is revolutionizing the restaurant consultancy sector.

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The Talk

Top Chen List

"The Talk" host Julie Chen picks her favorite holiday gifts

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Allure

Insider's Guide

If you don't know where someone usually goes (for a massage or facial), buy a gift certificate from giftbar.com — they do their homework.

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Vanity Fair

Red-Carpet Guide

And, for an inspired twist, try Giftbar, which allows you to choose, personalize, and send gift cards--from hundreds of boutiques.

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More

Our Fave Online Shops for Everyone on your Wish List

Giftbar allows you to create personalized gift cards for local shops and restaurants that may not have gift card capabilities of their own. You can even create gift caards with stores in different cities for friends and family living far away.

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Glamour

Last-Minute Holiday Gift Ideas

Check out Giftbar, the digital gift card marketplace for independent, local boutiques and specialty shops! It allows you to purchase a gift card from your loved ones' favorite boutiques.

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Bloomberg TV

Revolutionizing the Gift Card

Giftbar Co-Founder Kara Kaplan and Jennifer Morris discuss how GiftBar creates the ultimate virtual gift card. They speak to with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television's “Money Moves.”

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Chicago Business

"It's the anti-Groupon." It's GiftBar

Several years ago, Kara Kaplan popped in at a high-end North Shore boutique to buy a gift card. The card turned out to be this “ugly, handwritten” thing, she remembers. “I thought, 'There has to be a better way.' ”

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EveryDay with Rachel Ray®

Rach's Holiday Hot List

PAY IT FORWARD - Pick up the bill at a favorite local restaurant, boutique or spa with a customizable gift card. $25 and up, giftbar.com.

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InStyle

Find the Perfect Gift For Anyone

An elevated gift-card experience, with fully customizable templates and easy email, text, or print options for delivery.

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Star

Hot SITE

What do you give the girl who has everything? A Giftbar gift card! The site sells cards for local high-end boutiques, restaurants and services in NYC, Chicago and L.A.

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Racked

Giftbar Launches Digital Gift Cards to LA's Best Boutiques

Whether you're a serious procrastinator or just can't deal with the stress of selecting something for your super stylish friends, gift cards are always a good idea. But what if they don't want to go to Macy's, Starbucks or Best Buy? Instead of resorting to the grocery store's very-limited options, log on to Giftbar and send your friend to their favorite local shop.

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Modern Luxury

The Giving Spree

Chicago's giftbar.com, offering gift-givers access to local boutiques, restaurants, and experiences, is now a hit from NYC to L.A. But since it started here we checked in with the startup to showcase a few of our hometown faves.

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Elle

The Giving Spirit

Good news for those whose summer plans involve freeloading off friends: We've found two chic new ways to say thank you for that week at the Hamptons house/Fourth of July on Cape Code/month at the family villa in Sardinia.

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Refinery 29

The Procrastinator's Solution To Mother's Day Gift Giving

Why is it that any holiday other than those that fall in the month of January seem to sneak up on you like a thief in the night? While you're no doubt stoked it's the weekend, Mother's Day is only a couple of days away, which begs the question: What did you get your mama?

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Fox News

Special Deal on Mother's Day Gifts

If you haven't gotten mom a gift for Mother's Day yet, don't worry. Jen Morris and Kara Kaplan of GiftBar.com shared this year's hottest gift ideas, and a special deal for viewers!

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Sun Times

High Tech, High Style

Lately, it seems Chicago might be giving Silicon Valley a run for its money. Need convincing? We’re home to tech giants, are cultivating small start-ups via incubators such as 1871 and Catapult Chicago, and May 2-4, we’re welcoming curious minds from around the world as host of the TEDx Midwest and TEDx Youth Event speaker series, featuring global innovators in a range of fields.

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Fox Business

Good Sales Just Around Corner for Local Merchants

The cold winter was filled with chilly sales data – but one entrepreneur says retailers will soon have their day in the sun. “Essentially I see, for the merchants we’re going after -- they really are starting to see things pick up,” says GiftBar.com co-founder Kara Kaplan, despite March’s disappointing retail numbers. GiftBar.com is an online marketplace where consumers can purchase digital gift cards for local businesses. Co-founder Jen Morris says the company launched a beta version of the site in November 2011, and re-launched in 2012 in Chicago and New York City.

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Fast Company

How to Succeed With a Retail Startup

Launching a successful retail software product means working with the right merchants at launch, and scoring the right launch partners means forging a high-touch relationship. “We needed to reassure merchants that we were going to help them sell in a digital way, not in a discounted way,” says Kara Kaplan, cofounder of Giftbar.

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Business Insider

12 Ways to Save Valentine's Day

Buy an online gift certificate to GiftBar—tell her you wanted to give HER the option.

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Chicago Shopping

Last Minute V-day Gift Idea!

Giftbar offers consumers the ability to give someone special more than just a gift, but an actual experience. Giftbar brings hundreds of gift-worthy boutiques, services and restaurants right to users’ fingertips through a smart and refined platform. From high-end retailers like Sofia and Edith Hart, to upscale fitness studios, salons and beyond, Giftbar offers giftcards to a variety of merchants with options for everyone.

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Chicago Grid

Rising stars learn what it takes from those who have been there and back

Fifty-one years ago, Gordon Segal opened Crate & Barrel with his wife, Carole in Old Town. In this week's Conversation, Giftbar's Kara Kaplan and Jennifer Morris quiz Segal on how to grow their business without handing over the reins.

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Chicago Tribune

Giftbar fills void at high-end shops

Frustrated that she couldn't buy an electronic gift card from a high-end North Shore boutique, Kara Kaplan figured there had to be a better way. So she and longtime friend Jen Morris created Giftbar, a digital gift card website that caters to shoppers at upscale local merchants. Unlike plastic cards sold by individual retailers, e-gift cards are sent to email addresses and can be used online or printed and used in a store. At Giftbar, patrons of such high-end boutiques as Sofia and Haberdash can purchase electronic gift cards as easily as they would on the websites of larger retailers such as Amazon.com or Nordstrom.

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Pure Wow

GiftBar.com launches in NYC

We may be long past the exhausting giftfest better known as the holidays, but that doesn’t mean birthdays, anniversaries, graduations and other special occasions (like that little event in February) aren’t still looming around the corner. So if you’re a little shopped out from the previous season, let us introduce you to GiftBar.com--a new company that offers gift cards to your favorite local mom-and-pop shops, sent from the comfort of your email.

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Refinery 29

To The Rescue: A One-Stop (Local!) Gift Card Shop

Receiving a gift card to your fave shop is like hitting the gift-getting jackpot. Picking up that cashmere sweater you've been admiring all season for what seems like Monopoly money is a retail high every girl deserves to experience. The only thing that could ruin this shopping dream? If the gift card is not so much for that little boutique that is "so you," but for some big-box store of tacky clothing, or worse, Red Lobster. Enter Giftbar, a digital marketplace that curates the best gift cards from some of the Chicago's top merchants and boutiques.

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Pure Wow

Give and Gift - A Chicago company transforms how you shop

A Chicago company has dreamed up a new way to support the "shop local" movement. Instead of grabbing a gift card from some big-box store the next time you need a present in a hurry, log on to GiftBar and choose a card that means something more.

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Chicago Sun Times

Giftbar.com creates online gift card bazaar for local retailers

There, it’s in print, so friends and family cannot say I don’t know their birthdays. They’re in my calendar, but for whatever reason I can’t get it together to actually make a move on a gift until Facebook reminds me.

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Racked

Last Minute Ideas: Local Gift Cards via Email or Text

This Chicago-based start-up purveys gift cards from Cerato, Sofia, Apartment Number9, Shrine Haberdashers, The Dailey Method, Jules and more. Plus, if you find yourself scratching your head about which merchant to support then you can let the recipient decide by giving them a dollar amount and letting them choose the GiftBar of Choice.

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Refinery 29

Finally! New Web Site Let's You Buy Hard-To-Find Gift Cards

You know that secret home store that you're just dying to share with your best friend? Or that Roscoe Village wine bar that the boss has to try out. The holidays are the best time to share your favorite go-tos with loved ones/employers/in-laws, but finding a gift card to the spot in question can be nigh-high impossible.

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