BILLINGS, Mt: Following Small Business Saturday, many local businesses are looking forward to Cyber Monday by encouraging more people to shop locally and support their local businesses.
One such store is the Montana Dress Company and Boutique in Downtown Billings that has been serving the community for the last seven years.
This year, the boutique is planning to provide its customers various online deals for Cyber Monday for the first time.
Barbara Wells, the owner of the boutique, said that COVID-19 has pushed people to shopping online and that’s one of her major reasons to jump on the Cyber deal opportunity this year.
"Everybody wants to save a dollar and usually cyber shopping was for people who didn't have that access in their local communities. Now, I think, those of us with websites are jumping on that bandwagon. So, we are offering cyber shopping all week long to see if we can capitalize on that market a little more,” added Barbara.
She also said that the pandemic has helped customers to learn to appreciate in-person shopping more than ever.
"One of the things I think COVID did for a lot of people is not everyone wants to shop online. I am in the market where my customers are at that age who want to touch it and feel it and try it and make sure that it is in their hands when they walk out of the store. So, I feel that, right after COVID, kind of towards the end, it really made people think about the community they lived in and they supported us more,” emphasized Barbara.
Highlighting the importance to shop locally, she also mentions that people should support their local businesses to further help local shops support the community through donations.
