How does online shopping impact the local economy?

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - The pandemic continues to impact small businesses, and with online shopping, some may wonder what this could mean for the local economy.

“Once the money leaves the community, it doesn’t allow us to recirculate that money and keep spending it within our community. We do in some of the cases get some tax dollars back, which is very good, but the profits on that product when it leaves the community that is what hurts the small businesses and the community as a whole,” says the co-owner of Roam’n Around, Jon Machacek.

Going into a local store and buying products keeps workers employed.

“We employ seven people full-time, and those seven people full time live in this community, and they work in this community, and they spend their money in this community,” says Machacek.

If you shop online, try and find a local business that offers online shopping like Prairie Edge.

“The numbers went up. As far as my number of orders went up 300%, my average sale went down, and again that just kind of leads to you know people are really buying what they need and really what they want,” says the general manager of Prairie Edge, Dan Tribby.

And as we head into the holiday season.

“It’s going to be really, really important to just think about the local folks because, as I said, we really are all in this together, but we’re going to the need the support of the local community to keep going,” says Tribby.

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