Shop online AND shop local!

You want to spend money locally, but even with Baraboo Area stores extending their hours during the holiday season, you can’t fit shopping trips into your schedule. How can you shop from home and support your local economy? Check out the many gifts local businesses sell online!

Consumers traditionally have thought of “shopping locally” as popping into nearby stores, and that model is alive and well. But online shopping has become an option, with locally owned retailers offering goods and services for sale on the Internet just like national chains do.

Among the Baraboo Area businesses offering online shopping is Red Shed Garden and Gifts, which sells décor, greeting cards and gift certificates via its website and Etsy store. Owner Michelle Glaser said signs, Kitras glass ornaments and metal roosters are top sellers.

Internet sales are critical to Baraboo Candy Company’s business model. General Manager Don Carroll said half the store’s holiday sales occur online. The chocolatier sells its signature Cow Pies, toffees, fudges, caramels and sampler boxes online.

Spa Serenity sells gift cards online, and its sister business – the Greatest Place on Earth brand – maintains an online store. There shoppers can buy uniquely Baraboo-themed gifts ranging from onesies to tumblers to stocking caps.

Baraboo Bluff Winery sells bottles of its many flavors online, as well as gift certificates. Now available are the recently released 2018 Sangiovese and 2019 Pinot Grigio.

And don’t forget Baraboo’s state historic site, Circus World. Its online gift shop offers everything from 95-cent clown noses to books to trinkets to prints of antique posters. Circus fans also can support the Parkinson Library online, or place special orders for copies of photos that are part of the library’s unparalleled collection.

That isn’t the only local nonprofit doing business online: The Greater Sauk Community Foundation offers what Executive Director Robin Whyte calls “a great holiday gift for the person who has everything” – a donation in their name that supports all the area’s nonprofits.

If you aren’t sure whether your favorite Baraboo Area businesses offer online sales, find their websites in the Business Directory at baraboo.com. Remember, you can put your feet up, shop online and still support businesses in your community!