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4 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, February 20, 2008 "It‘s a great incentive for people to shop uptown," said Patti Brooks, the executive director of the UpTown Waterloo Business Improvement Area, a group charged with promoting, beautifying and maintaining the city‘s core. â€" The UpTown Dollars program began a decade ago to promote shopâ€" ping in the uptown. Don't forget to bring your UpTown Dollars the next time you‘re shopping in Waterloo‘s core. These certificates can be used like cash at any uptown establishâ€" ment â€" including stores, restaurants and spas â€" except the LCBO. "If I wanted to give someone a gift, and I might be biased about UpTown Dollars available in city‘s core By Jennirer Ormston Chronicle Staff uptown Waterloo, I‘d give her uptown dollars knowing she would spend them here and support our businesses," Brooks said. "As the uptown has grown in popuâ€" larity, so have they," Brooks said, adding they are considered legal tender. And this year the BIA is pushing them as part of its Shop Local, Shop Uptown campaign. Many people buy them as staff incentives or prizes for reaching a goal, said Brennan Kraft, the execuâ€" tive assistant at the BIA. At first, sales were slow, but that‘s changed over the years. Executive director of the UpTown Waterloo Business Improvement Area ‘As the uptown has grown in popularity, so have they."