Mixed feelings for shoppers and workers on Cyber Monday

(ABC 6 News) – There is Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, and Monday is the grand finale of one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, Cyber Monday.

Imagine a place where you can shop online and support local businesses, it exists and it’s called Shop Iowa. It started in March 2020 when physical retail doors were shut because of the pandemic. The State of Iowa found a majority of Iowa business owners were not selling online, so Shop Iowa was created.

“What’s nice is it kind of encompasses both Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday,” said Cherie Edilson, the CEO and co-founder of Member Marketplace, Inc.

“You don’t just have to support businesses on Small Business Saturday. You can do it online. We can take the effect of having all of those businesses there on one site rather than going to everyone’s individual sites.”

To find a local business by city, all you need to do is type the city name in the search bar.

According to FitSmallBusiness.com, this Cyber Monday, $11.2 billion dollars is expected to be spent. It’s also estimated shoppers will spend 66% more on the retail holiday.

For one group of teenagers who were out shopping on Black Friday, they say braving the crowds is for the experience and tradition.

“I think you can find more particular things that you’re looking for on Cyber Monday but I don’t know. I feel like it’s more for the experience on Black Friday,” said one of the teenagers, Elena Kesselring.

For Jeramy Schultz and his wife Kim, they said they are not “really Black Friday people.”

“Avoided that, Cyber Monday is definitely where it’s at. It just makes sense,” said Jeramy.

“Ultimately, it’s still safer and a little bit easier. I think we can all agree.”

Over at ABC and Toy Zone in Rochester, owner Steve Nordhus said the store isn’t doing anything extra for Cyber Monday. But there’s a reason for that.

“The web is always busy for us. We don’t have the staff this year to do it right. And we want to be able to do it right in order to be involved with it,” Nordhus explained.

“I’m packing, I wear several different hats. I’m packing, I’m down stocking, I’m up stocking, I’m pricing, I’m cashier. I’m moving around because that’s what we have to do to get through the period of when you don’t have enough staff.”

Despite a staffing shortage, ABC and Toy Zone still makes an effort to host Santa for a few visits during the holiday season. Nordhus doesn’t put him to work, but said Santa has helped change a lightbulb and he’s a “master of all trades.”