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Recently Eagle Mountain City created a virtual Main Street on its website. This main street is open to Eagle Mountain businesses and has the ability to allow vendors to sell products as well as a booking service. You can go to the virtual Main Street by following this URL: https://eaglemountaincity.com/mainstreet/. I added Cedar Valley Sentinel (formerly i84005) to the store and was approved in a matter of minutes. I was then able to set up my storefront and was up and running in less than 15 minutes. I don’t have any products to sell, but do offer services to the community. The site allows you to connect to a Stripe account so you can collect for the products and services you see on the site.
“Main Street is a digital multi-vendor marketplace for Eagle Mountain’s local businesses. This marketplace was established to provide a common location for all local shopping to make it easier for residents to find and shop local businesses. Residents can shop products and book services directly through this marketplace. Local small businesses are invited to register as a vendor on Main Street at no cost by going to the Vendor Portal page.”I recently sent a series of questions to Evan Berrett, the City Staff member that has been working on this project. He was more than happy to answer my questions and to give me some more details on the project. His email interview is below. One of the concerns I had was in regard to cost. What is the budget impact for the virtual Main Street as well as the cost for businesses to join? Q: What is the annual cost of the program for the city? A: Annual costs are related to licenses for the tools used for creating Main Street and presently total $626.00/year. In time, we hope to work with the Eagle Mountain Chamber of Commerce to transition to their control. Presently, due to technical limitations, they are unable to host the Main Street tools. Q: Are there any requirements for being a vendor (i.e. location, business license, etc.) A: There is no cost to be a vendor, and a business license is not required. We only limit vendors to those located within Eagle Mountain City, and products must be appropriate for a local government website (no weapons, adult products, etc.)
I then asked a series of questions about the project itself, and who has been involved in the project.
Q: How long has this been in the works?
A: From concept to creation, it has been around two months.
Q: What is the purpose of the program?
A: The purpose of Main Street Eagle Mountain is ultimately to support our local small businesses. Main Street Eagle Mountain does this by providing a central location where residents can go to shop multiple Eagle Mountain businesses at once. It helps residents find the local businesses that they may not know are here and makes it easier to shop local by purchasing from different businesses in a single checkout experience, similar to Etsy or Amazon (just not as sophisticated, and only for Eagle Mountain). We also wanted to ensure that businesses that are service-oriented are equally supported in Eagle Mountain. Fortunately, the capability exists in the tools we are using to provide service-oriented businesses the ability to sell appointments, bookings, reservations, class sign-ups, etc. In the future, we hope to pass administration of Main Street over to the Eagle Mountain Chamber of Commerce once enough interest is present, and the Eagle Mountain Chamber of Commerce is technically capable of doing so.
“All Eagle Mountain based businesses are invited to setup a store on Main Street Eagle Mountain. Vendor Registration creates your store within Main Street and gets your basic details and setup taken care of. Please watch the instructional videos to help you through creating your store. Main Street Eagle Mountain has many features and options, so the videos are a great way to get started. Need help with Registration? Contact Evan Berrett at eberrett@emcity.org”
Mike Kieffer is an IT geek by hobby and trade, with a BS in Information Systems & Technology. He is a proud father of 10, a grandpa, an author, a journalist, and internet publisher. His motto is to “Elevate, Inspire and Inform”, and he is politically conservative and a Christian. Mike has a passion for technology, writing, and helping others. With a wealth of experience, he is committed to sharing his knowledge with others to help them reach their full potential. He is known for his jackassery or his form of self-expression that encourages boldness, creativity, and risk-taking. It can be a way to push the boundaries and challenge traditional norms, leading to creative solutions and positive change.