Are you having a dot-com holiday shopping experience this year?.

Friday, December 01, 2000

Are you having a dot-com holiday shopping experience this year?

Many local residents are hitting the computer keyboard this shopping season in an effort to seek out the perfect gift. But will you or your gift recipients be disappointed?

While there are many reputable firms out there selling goods on the Internet, there are scams born every day. Not only are there scams where you lose money in the long run, there also are promises that go unfulfilled.

Last year’s holiday shopping season saw an explosion on the Web, and this year promises to become even greater. However, several seemingly reputable firms were caught in the trap of being unable to keep up with the demand that the Web created on their businesses. Thus, many orders placed online were filled too late or not at all – and that left many people disappointed in delayed gifts or none at all.

Those businesses that are around this year promise they’ll meet the demand this year. We hope they will.

However, we have a simpler solution. What’s wrong with shopping in your own back yard? Sure, you can hop in the car and head to Rochester or the Mall of America. But don’t you think you can find plenty of gifts right here in the Austin and Mower County area?

Before you take the drive, check out all that Austin’s businesses have to offer. If you’re more inclined to surf the Web for gifts from home, pick up the phone instead and call our area merchants. See what they can offer you that you can buy right here.

You’ll feel better about your dollars staying in our community, and you’ll feel better about what you buy, too.