Many small businesses saw a ‘shop local’ push this holiday season

POCATELLO — Many small businesses in eastern Idaho saw an increase in local customers during the holiday season.

After COVID-19 in 2020, local shops were suffering as more people ordered online and did their shopping that way. Now, some local retailers with experience in online and brick-and-mortar have noticed a change and see more people leaving the house to experience in-person shopping.

Lettie Boutique – 443 East Chubbuck Road Suite B, Chubbuck

“I think that people are getting a lot more conscious about shopping local,” said Lindsay Heyneman, owner of Lettie Boutique, a women’s clothing store in Chubbuck. “And I also think, especially after 2020, people are really looking for experiences.”

Heyneman is one of retailers now offering online and in-person experiences, as Lettie’s was an online boutique for 11 years. It became a physical store when she opened at the end of August.

“We try to do a lot of fun events and really create an atmosphere and an experience in our store that they want to come back to,” Heyneman said.

She still fulfills online orders, which have been down this year, but she said that a new local customer base made up for it, and the business’s overall sales have been up.

Tilden Co. – 100 West Bridge Street, Blackfoot

Another retailer with both a physical and online presence is Tilden Co., also a women’s clothing store. Co-owner Julie Bench said that the store had a good holiday sales season.

“We tried a few different, new things, so that made it fun and exciting,” Bench said.

This year, the shop carried a wider variety of holiday stocking stuffer items and participated in some downtown events that brought more customers into the door.

“It got the Blackfoot community really excited to support small business, which really helped us,” Bench said.

Tilden Co. started as an online seller in 2018 before it opened a physical location in 2021. It saw a spark in sales during the pandemic, but now online sales only make up about 20% of the business.

“I’ve definitely talked to a lot of our local customers about how they love shopping in person,” Bench said.

REstylez Thrift Boutique – 322 East Center Street Suite B, Pocatello

But not every business has had this experience. Amber Cook, owner of REstylez Thrift Boutique, had a slower holiday season.

A part of this may be that Cook moved REstylez to a new location this year and is still trying to get the word out about the move.

“Not everybody follows social media and sees that you moved,” Cook said.

Despite having a slower year, Cook said that there’s a large number of people who shop locally and regularly come to her location.

The Popcorn Shop – 421 East Oak Street, Pocatello

Christy Kelshaw, co-owner of The Popcorn Shop, said that normally her store does about 30% of its sales during the last six weeks of the year, but this year, it did even more than that.

“We were tracking behind last year until we hit about mid-November, and then we ended the year ahead of last year, so it was a big jump,” Kelshaw said.

Unlike many other businesses, the Popcorn Shop actually grew during the pandemic years, as it already had an established online presence and shipped orders all over the country, as well as getting huge increase in wholesale clients that it would deliver to.

But Kelshaw also saw a huge push in local shoppers finding ways to buy the shop’s popcorn.

“People were so committed to making sure that we would be there when it was over,” Kelshaw said.

The Candy Jar – 105 North West Main Street, Blackfoot

Paul Loomis, the owner of the Candy Jar, said that the holiday season is his busiest time of year, and 2023 was no different.

The Candy Jar sold as much as it normally does in three months during December.

Loomis said that businesses often come and go, and to stay open, he’s had to focus on his product.

“You have to do your due diligence and make sure that you have something that is appealing to folks,” Loomis said. “It has to be truly something that you put some investment into.”

The Handmade Idaho Shop – 430 Park Avenue, Idaho Falls

Hannah Trost, owner of The Handmade Idaho Shop said that 2022 was its highest year on record. Although sales in 2023 didn’t surpass the year before, they came close.

Trost will have been open for four years by March, and she said that the business’s sales have risen by around 10% each year.

“We opened up just in time for that first COVID shut down, so getting the word out has been kind of slow, but we’ve been growing,” Trost said.

Growth has been strong enough for the The Handmade Idaho Shop that it has hired dozens of new artisans, bringing its total up to 80. It started with 12.

Trost said that one of the benefits of shopping locally is being able to find handmade items.

“You can get your custom shirts, custom pens — you can really make it unique,” Trost said.

Shopping locally

All of the business owners interviewed by EastIdahoNews.com said that they see a strong push to shop locally in their communities.

“We do have a very strong shop-local crowd, and they really do support us,” Cook said.

Cook said she sees more people joining that group every month and hopes to see more of them at REstylez Thrift Boutique.

“The more people that find us, they’re like,’This place is great,’ and they start coming in weekly,” Cook said.

Loomis, who opened The Candy Jar right before the pandemic, said the business wouldn’t still be open if it weren’t for the Blackfoot community.

“The local population kept us going during that COVID time. I way underestimated the support from the local residents,” Loomis said.

Heyneman said that she plans to continue to emphasize the experience of coming in person to Lettie’s Boutique to shop in future years.

“People are really looking for connections and experiences, and that’s what you’ll find in small retailers,” Heyneman said.