GADSDEN COUNTY, FL — For 74 years, Padgett's Jewelry has been a staple in Gadsden County, but the Quincy business is now transitioning to a hybrid shopping model to survive the shift toward online retail.
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To reach customers beyond the storefront, the small business recently launched a website and started hosting live sales on Facebook every Thursday. Owners hope blending traditional personal service with a stronger online presence will bring more people through their doors.
The shift toward e-commerce is affecting businesses across the Big Bend region, taking a particularly hard toll on rural communities.
Dana Dudley, Executive Director of the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce, emphasized the economic impact of shopping at local brick-and-mortar stores.
"67 cents of every dollar you spend locally goes back into the local economy. 67 cents, that’s a great return on your investment. Well, when people are choosing to take their dollars and spend them online, that money isn’t necessarily coming back into the communities that we live in. We’re not getting to feed our people, we're not getting to support the wages that we want our local teenagers to have at the retail stores, and our rural areas are getting hit harder than those areas that are primarily in what I say a larger incorporated area like Leon County, Tallahassee," Dudley said.
Virginia Padget, Owner of Padgett's Jewelry, said community support remains key to keeping small businesses alive as online shopping continues to grow.
"Get out and see what your own community has to offer. There are people that live two blocks away on Kings Street that don’t even know a jewelry store is in town. Or they see a jewelry store and don’t realize there are gifts here, so all I can say is get out and see your hometown and what your hometown has to offer," Padget said.
Stores like Padgett's are holding onto a piece of the community's history. By embracing change, they hope to continue reaching new customers while keeping longtime ones coming back.
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