Finding local businesses and products

There are four ways to find what you're after on LocalFor.Me: browsing all products, searching, browsing categories, and opening a business profile directly.

Browse all products

The Browse products page (linked from the footer, or via Browse all products → next to the New on LocalFor.Me strip on the homepage) lists every product for sale across the platform, newest first.

• Search within it by keyword — typos are tolerated, so "cofee" still finds coffee.
• Open the collapsible Filters panel for a price range (£ min/max), delivery (Post or Pickup), In stock, Made to order, and sort by newest or price (low→high / high→low).
• Narrow by category with the chips along the top.

No postcode needed here — it's the whole platform. To rank results by distance, use Search with a postcode instead.

Browse what's near you

The Local Businesses page (the homepage) is built around your location.

1. Enter your postcode, or tap Use my location to let your browser share where you are.
2. Choose a radius from the distance selector. The options are 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 50 miles — 5 miles is the default for a tight 'in your bit of town' feel; 50 miles helps in rural areas.
3. The map and the list below update to show approved businesses nearest first.

If you haven't given a location yet, the page doesn't go blank: beneath the category browser you'll find All verified businesses — the full directory, A–Z and paginated. Add a postcode (or share your location) whenever you want distance-ranked results and the map instead.

Search by keyword

Type what you want into the search box (for example 'dog groomer' or 'sourdough'). Keyword searches open the deeper /search/ page, which gives you more control:

• Postcode and radius — searches start at your chosen distance and automatically widen (5 → 10 → 25 → 50 miles) if nothing matches nearby, telling you when it has done so.
• Category filter — narrow results to one part of the directory.
• Verified only — show only businesses we've verified.
• Has a shop — show only businesses you can buy from on-site.
• Sort — Nearest (the default when you've given a postcode), Best match for keyword relevance, Name A–Z, or Newest.

Results come in two parts: matching businesses and matching products — so a single great product a bit further away still surfaces. Both are counted honestly: the header tells you "Showing 1–20 of N places", and the page's Previous / Next controls keep your postcode, keyword, category, radius and sort intact.

No postcode? No problem. A keyword search without a postcode still answers with matching businesses (ranked by relevance — exact and prefix name matches first) and matching products from across the platform. Add a postcode whenever you want those results ranked by distance and plotted on the map.

Get alerts when something new appears

Two kinds of email save you coming back to check:

• Waitlist for an area. When a search finds nothing nearby, the empty-results panel offers Email me when a business joins. Leave your email there (your postcode and radius are attached automatically) and we'll send you a single email if an approved business opens within that radius of your postcode area. It's a one-off message tied to that one request — there's no mailing list and nothing to unsubscribe from.
• New items from shops you follow. Tap the heart on a business to favourite it, and we'll email you when the shops you follow publish new products. Alerts are batched into a single email, sent once a day, and each one names the shop and links straight to the item. To stop them, open the shop's page and remove your favourite.

Browse by category

The A-Z category grid groups every type of business into themed sections such as Home & Trades, Health, Beauty & Wellbeing, Lessons & Education, Creative & Media, Business & Professional, and Everything Else. Only categories with live products are shown, so you never click into an empty one.

Selecting a category opens its /c/ page. There you'll see:

• The category's subcategories, each with a live product count.
• A grid of the latest products across that whole category, newest first, 24 per page with Previous / Next controls.

Category pages show the newest products platform-wide, not just near you. To find products close to you, use Search with a postcode instead — that's the distance-aware tool.

Browse by town

Every town with a live listing has its own page under /areas/ (linked from Browse by town in the footer): pick a town to see its shops A–Z, or combine it with a category to see that category in that town. Town pages are paginated 24 per page and 404 politely when nothing is listed there yet.

Opening a business

Click any business card to open its profile. There you can read about them, see their items, contact them, and — where the business has enabled it — add products to a basket.