TREYNOR, Iowa (KMTV) — Small business owners in southwest Iowa say it's been a tough year for business, including Alysia Hess in Treynor. Add to that, a snowstorm on Small Business Saturday making the rest of the holiday shopping season is even more critical to the survival of many businesses.
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Hess, who launched The Occasional Collective toward the end of the pandemic, is moving her shop entirely online after struggling to maintain her brick-and-mortar location. She sells local products as well as sustainable goods in the shop, but she'll focus only on the sustainable products in her online business.
"It's just, I'm not getting the foot traffic I need to stay open," Hess said.
Her shop initially thrived when it opened.
"That was my best year, being open every other weekend," Hess said.
She eventually opened the shop full-time, but the sales didn't follow.
"I love contributing to the community and giving back, so I'm going to try to find a way to work that component into my online store," Hess said.
City Administrator Michael Holton points to multiple factors affecting local businesses, including the convenience of online shopping and Treynor's location about 10 minutes from the metro area.
"Now, you can just go home to your computer and order stuff off of Amazon and that has an impact," Holton said.
Other economic pressures are also taking their toll.
"And then you throw the (economic) climate on with the tariffs and the high cost of the inventory and those things..." Holton said, outline a multiple contributing factors.
These challenges make every purchase crucial.
"When you hear small businesses tell you that you need to shop local, that's not a lie," Hess said.
Holton emphasized that small business owners like Hess and the owners of Tweets Coffee — where we met — typically reinvest their earnings back into the community, multiplying the impact of dollars spent locally.
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