That is the message from Newsquest Oxfordshire's sales director Shane Harding and editor Samantha Harman.

In an extremely challenging and unprecedented time, Newsquest Oxfordshire, the publisher of the Oxford Mail, the Oxford Times, Witney Gazette, the Herald Series, Bicester Advertiser and Living Oxfordshire wants to show its support to the communities it serves by launching a new campaign.

Samantha Harman, editor, said: “In unprecedented times such as these we must all do our best to support our independent businesses.

“Shopping local has never been so important.

“It is no secret our local traders are facing a difficult time and as a champion of our communities, Newsquest Oxfordshire wants to help in any way it can.

"In all of our titles we will be featuring the efforts of local businesses which have been going the extra mile to support their customers.

“If you have any examples of a business going above and beyond please get in touch.”

The campaign will be officially launched on Saturday with continuous coverage across our print products and websites next week.

Shane Harding, sales director, said: “Newsquest Oxfordshire and LOCALiQ are best placed to lead on this campaign as we reach a huge percentage of the local population through our brands.

“As this crisis develops the local communities we serve will rely on us to keep them informed. We have already seen a significant increase in traffic to all our news sites over the last week in response to what is going on.

“We will ensure that we are really banging the drum for independent and family owned businesses from all sectors including retail, hospitality and leisure and encouraging our loyal readership to show their support by shopping local.

“Any business which wants to be featured in our launch campaign should get in touch.

“I have also instructed my team to reach out to these businesses over the coming days and make them aware of our campaign, many of these businesses have supported us for several years by advertising their products and services within our titles and at this time it is appropriate we show our support.

“If any other businesses would like to come onboard as a partner I urge them to reach out to me directly.”

Readers can support the campaign by using the hashtag #stillopeninoxfordshire. You can share your story below too.

For more information about supporting this campaign, email shane.harding@localiq.co.uk