Downtown Sioux Falls retailers hoping to sustain foot traffic and sales
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - Earlier this month, SiouxFalls.Business published a column that shed light on the struggles of local retailers in downtown Sioux Falls. Sales are low and many of the businesses in downtown Sioux Falls expressed that they are having a difficult time turning a profit. Some local business owners even began regularly meeting to find solutions to get out of the slump they’re in, support each other and bring in more customers.
Since that column was published, there has been a little more momentum for the local retailers. Some customers made an effort to shop locally more in the last two weeks in response to the alarm bell being rung.
Another part of the recent swing of sales has been the Downtown Crazy Days Summer Shop & Stroll. From Friday, July 19th, through Sunday the 21st, many downtown retailers participated in extending business hours and some of the biggest sales of the year in what would usually be a slower time of year.
Sales like the Downtown Crazy Days Shop & Stroll usually bring more foot traffic to local businesses, but this year it came at a time when businesses really needed it. Some shops told Dakota News Now on Sunday that some of the biggest markdowns of the year successfully drove sales up throughout the weekend. However, some said that the sales still paled in comparison to previous Crazy Days sales.
Still, the uptick in transactions is a welcome shift even if it’s slight. Now, they hope to sustain the momentum.
”I am feeling really optimistic,” said 605 Running Company Marketing Specialist Brie Peters. “I’ve been here all weekend. The sale has been very good for us, we’ve had constant foot traffic into our store, so I’m really hoping that we can bring people in long-term as well. What’s really nice about pushing foot traffic here is it’s a downtown-wide event, so we’re getting a lot of people that have never been to the store before and just happened to be in the area and we’re able to push other products and stuff to them so they can become long-term customers.”
Businesses will continue to push their online sales amidst this effort to build off of momentum. If foot traffic slows again, online sales might help them compete with larger businesses, but they remain aware that financial difficulties as pointed out by SiouxFalls.Business’ Jodi Schwan have an impact on the spending habits of consumers in 2024 as well. Strategies that many local shops make to rope in new customers in the coming weeks will be crucial to their success amidst the difficult year.
“We’re really just pushing the reliability of our products, pushing that we always have new stuff coming into our doors and every time you come back, you’ll be able to find something new,” Peters said.
They hope more shoppers choose local going forward. Peters pointed out that shopping local not only benefits the community with the money boosting the local economy, but it also provides opportunities for these businesses to help the community in return, like 605 Running Company regularly does.
“Some of the best things about shopping local, especially with us is not only giving local people jobs, but we also do a lot of races and events that give back to the community,” explained Peters. “For example, we time races that give back to veterans like the One Race for Veterans that we did the other day and a lot of our other races we donate a lot of proceeds. We have the 437 Project as well that we help support. We also do recycled shoes in our area and just kind of give back in any way that we can.”
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