WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Amazon Prime Day is here, longer than ever before. It goes from July 8 to the 11 and is expected to generate over $23 billion in sales for both Amazon and third party sellers on the platform.

And it has a lot more competition this year. Walmart, Target and even TikTok are also rolling out deals.

Consumers are excited those big retailers are offering deep discounts, but those are sales that smaller local shops can’t compete with. 

Small businesses, from boutiques to specialty shops, in Valley Junction are well aware of the giant retailer’s big sale week. But their selling point continues to be: there’s nothing better than a real, in-person shopping experience in a strong community like Des Moines. 

MoMere shop on 5th Street sells home good items, clothes and specialty gift items. 

“We will, from time to time, have sales but we here especially at MoMere always try to price our items accordingly and affordably,” MoMere co-owner Kay Schiller said. “I always say you can’t smell a candle online. So, when you come to a small business, you’re dealing with probably the owners or staff who are very knowledgeable in what these products are and can give you the background, the customer service, the free gift wrapping.”

A few doors down is Candle Bar DSM where they not only sell candles and gift items, but you can make your own custom candles there too. 

“We offer a lot of online specials, we try to get people in our door by hosting events, really just making a great costumer experience, something that Amazon can’t offer,” Candle Bar DSM owner Maria Abbas said. 

These small businesses have another challenge on top of this: tariffs. On Monday, President Trump pushed back the July 9 deadline for countries to negotiate tariffs until August 1. Still, many prices are rising and these shops have already been impacted. 

“Oh tariffs, don’t get me started,” Schiller said. “What we are seeing now is that tariffs are deadly to small businesses. When we are placing an order that we have 10% on, it might be an extra $600 or an extra $1,000. A lot comes from China because that’s just the way it is. And so guess who gets that, it gets tacked down to us.”

“It definitely does affect us. Trying to find local creators to bring in that make those products, gift products, finding different sources has been kind of a challenge cause we’re all trying to do that same thing,” Abbas said.

Abbas is all about making her small businesses have experiences. She’s also opening up a shop a block away in Valley Junction called The Boho Vase where you can soon make your own dried floral arrangement. Both candles and dried flowers you can buy online, but creating them yourself adds something Amazon can’t do.

Metro News: