Local businesses see different impacts from Cyber Monday

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Suzanne Niemela is visiting from out of town, and rather than shop online on Cyber Monday, she was out at local shops.

“I love to go into these shops. Because sometimes you just have to see things, and feel things, and look at things,” said Suzanne Niemela, visiting from Atlanta.

Shops like the Little Mustard Seed in Panama City, Niemela was one of the many people that shopped in person on Cyber Monday. The owner of Little Mustard Seed said they still expect some foot traffic.

“We won’t have as much foot traffic, that will come in Monday. A lot of people are sitting at home on the keyboard getting the deals for Cyber Monday,” Greg Snow, Co-Owner of The Little Mustard Seed, said.

Snow said they do sell items online, but he’s focused on the brick and mortar.

“What I’ve been trying to do lately is really stay in our lane. Saturday, Small Business Saturday, was such a big day for us, a record day for us in sales, record week. So I’ve just kind of stayed in my lane,” Snow said.

“Especially with guitars, and drums. You want to get a hands-on feel like how does this feel in my hand or how does this sound in my ear. That’s not something you get you necessarily get to do looking at a YouTube video online,” Dominik Boston, a Leitz Music Salesman, said.

Boston said most of their sales are handled in person.

“A lot of our sales, and interactions are handled in person. Our internet sales don’t match as strong as most companies are,” Boston said.

Small businesses such as Panama City Hot Glass, are no longer missing out on online sales. They’ve added a website to help compete on days like Cyber Monday, but also year-round.

“We’ve added the shop now option on our website. So you can just click, add to cart and just shop, shop in your socks,” Brent McLeod, Panama City Hot Glass & McLeod Glass & Supply Owner, said.

“We have a lot of tourists that come and a lot of locals that come. And especially the tourists that have visited us in the past. They will call us, especially when Cyber Monday comes up. Because they know we will ship to them. We video chat with them, we send products through the mail all the time to them,” Joanne Wilburn, a manager at The L.H. Bead Gallery, said.

And for Niemela, it’s all about supporting the locals.

“It’s local, you have to keep it open. So I’m happy to send it business, and you have to walk in the door to do that,” Niemela said.

Panama City Hot Glass is currently hiring for a part-time employee, for more information, stop by their shop at 100 Harrison Ave, Panama City, FL 32401.

For more information on Leitz Music, L.H. Bead Gallery, The Little Mustard Seed, or McLeod Glass & Supply, visit their websites in the links above.

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