North Dakota’s small businesses hope more shop local this holiday season

MINOT, N.D. – The holiday season is one of the busiest shopping times of the year, but during the pandemic stores of all sizes have been impacted — especially small businesses.

“We’re gonna do some TV commercials, some radio, newspaper, that sort of thing as well as push out our social media ads and we’ve kinda integrated all the social medias,” Owner of Grow with Me, Val Stadheim said.

Stadheim has made more efforts to expand marketing of her shop for the holidays.

She says the store has become more active as a way for potential shoppers to preview at home before they buy.

“They have been very good about is sharing our posts hitting love instead of just like because that brings more people and making comments helps,” Stadheim said.

Just down Main Street in Minot, Mainstream Boutique is providing options for those who are hesitant to shop in person this year.

“We are offering by appointment if people wanna come and shop after hours and they just don’t feel really comfortable we are taking appointments and we will stay late for those people,” Owner of Mainstream Boutique, Kristie Schwan said.

For Stadheim, it’s the support from regulars that she says she hopes carries into the coming months.

“First-time moms, when they came in here seven years ago and now their oldest one is seven and they’ve got little ones they’re toting or in car seats and I mean it’s awesome to know they trust us enough to keep coming back,” Stadheim said.

Both business owners agree, in 2020 shopping local for the holidays, or anytime, is more critical than ever to keep these businesses going.

“When you shop local the money stays local and there’s such a feeling of shopping downtown that is such a sense of family and community,” Schwan said.

“If you’re thinking Christmas think local shop local shop Grow With Me type of thing. And hopefully, people come downtown and sees what everyone else has to offer too,” Stadheim said.