Eau Claire Small Business Owners Discuss Tariff, Affordability Issues

Local small business owners gathered at SHIFT in downtown Eau Claire on Tuesday morning for a roundtable discussion on the challenges they're facing amid federal tariff policies and affordability concerns.

The event, organized by Opportunity Wisconsin, featured three local business owners sharing how those issues have impacted their services. Eau Claire Outdoors owner Kate Felton was one of those individuals, and highlighted how small business owners consider balancing tariff-driven price changes with trying to keep their good affordable for their customers.

"These are not thoughts that, like, corporations have, right," she said. "These are the worries of a small business owner that's living in their own community and thinking about the customers and loving their customers. And I think that's worth something, to have somebody having thoughts like that. And why isn't that being rewarded?"

Felton experienced that dilemma first-hand earlier this year, deciding to close her Eau Claire Outdoors retail location because price increases from suppliers became too much to avoid passing them onto customers. Eau Claire City Council member Clara Serrano also participated in the roundtable, noting how limited shared revenue from the State has made it more difficult for municipalities to provide support for those small businesses.

"So much of what we have had to do is shift costs," she said. "Last night at our city council, our finance director showed us how much the state used to fund of our city, of our municipal budget, and the percentage. And it's, you know, a fraction now compared with 15 years ago of what the state funds in terms of city services. And so the City has to just trim, trim, trim, trim, trim."

Serrano also highlighted how other issues like a lack of affordable housing, higher fuel prices, and increasing healthcare costs are negatively impacting small businesses, leaving potential customers with less disposable income to patronize those businesses with.