‘Tis the season to be shopping

The start of the holiday shopping season was a mixed bag for local retailers
The Early evening news on KOTA Territory TV
Published: Nov. 28, 2022 at 6:49 PM CST

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - Last weekend the streets were filled with shoppers looking for the best deals, and retailers delivered.

Decades Vintage, a downtown Rapid City clothing shop that has been around since 2016, had a good weekend. Justice Glassgow, manager of Decades Vintage, says the store saw more shoppers this year compared to last year.

“Last year it was a little dead. This year we did a ‘fill a bag’ sale for Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, and we saw a lot of people down here,” Glassgow said.

Glassgow says customers are still buying vintage clothing and jewelry. However, Robo Briks & Grafix, located at Uptown Rapid selling Legos and high-end building blocks, saw the reverse. Owner Joanne Felix says they had more customers last year compared to this year.

“This is kind of weird but during COVID we were absolutely swamped, and I think its cause people were home, didn’t have anything to do, so they were home building with their kids. And actually we’ve seen a slight decrease from last year, not much, but with the economy it’s understandable,” Felix explained.

The weekend was busy for the store with Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. Felix says this year they see customers not buying the big sets but more of the smaller sets to share the fun with more people.

A survey was taken this November asking in what area customers believe small businesses will be better than large businesses. A slight majority, 51 percent, of customers say that smaller businesses offer more unique gift ideas. Also, 48 percent say they offer better customer service, and 39 percent says small businesses foster a sense of community.