Those wishing to support local Iowa businesses while also avoiding extensive travel or impatient crowds might find Shop Iowa to be a panacea for holiday shopping.
A project of the state’s Economic Development Authority and claiming the support of the Iowa Small Business Development Center, Shop Iowa provides those wishing to support the state’s small businesses convenient access to an online marketplace that includes products from hundreds of the state’s small business. Though Shop Iowa patrons may select items from various retailers, all purchases are paid for by way of a single checkout procedure. In addition, consumers can choose to pick up their goods at the business’s physical location, if nearby, or they can elect to have items shipped.
According to information from the IEDA, the origins of the Shop Iowa initiative date back to the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic in spring 2020. At that time, and after witnessing the toll the pandemic took on the state’s small businesses, Iowa Economic Development Authority Executive Director Debi Durham led the effort to establish a single online marketplace through which small businesses could sell their wares though their actual doors were shuttered.
In establishing the Shop Iowa site, the assistance of Marian-based Member Marketplace, Inc., was pivotal, as the corporation had previously created the Shop Where I Live marketplace, which was already in use in a number of locations statewide. With this serving as the structural basis for launching the idea, the IEDA’s collaboration on the project with Member Marketplace soon became official, with the first sales on the new platform occurring near the end of July 2020.
When the Derecho hit just days after, the new online marketplace took on even greater importance as a means to help support and sustain a variety of struggling small businesses.
Despite these challenges, however, growth continued, and by March 2021, the IEDA reported that businesses located in 169 cities in 89 of the states 99 counties were participating, with a total of more than 400 vendors conducting business via Shop Iowa. Additionally, by that date, nearly 1,300 items had been sold, totaling more than $28,000.
According to the IEDA, as well, “Iowa was the first state to provide such a marketplace for its businesses.”
In order to be eligible to sell items on Shop Iowa, an entity must meet certain criteria, which include having a physical retail location existing within a commercially zoned area, while also having fewer than twenty employees or a three-year average gross annual income under $4 million. Participation in the project is at no cost to eligible small businesses who list no more than 50 items for sale.
Among the local business that can be found on Shop Iowa is Saved for More of Fairbank, which sells vintage and handmade home décor, women’s apparel retailer Repurposed Mojo in Strawberry Point, as well as Euphoria Coffee in West Union. Farmers Daughters Quilts and Baily Horn Creations, both in Oelwein, also have products for sale on the marketplace.
Leslye Horn, owner of Bailey Horn Creations, said her business’s involvement with Shop Iowa has been a welcomed addition to her efforts to reach and serve her customers.
“It’s actually been really great,” Horn said, regarding her relationship with the online marketplace. “They are super easy to work with.”
And while Shop Iowa does not yet yield the same volume of sales as other platforms her business utilizes, such as Etsy, Horn normally has sales there each week, a positive trend she indicated would likely continue, due in part to Shop Iowa’s ongoing growth as a retail platform. For example, “in the last couple months, they have ramped up their marketing,” she described.
The Shop Iowa online marketplace, which is currently offering its holiday sales and discounts, can be found at https://www.shopiowa.com/.
