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certainly made it easy for us to do more legitimate business with people we might not have ever had any interaction with otherwise. And online orders are certainly a great way to keep our product moving to our customers."
• Some businesses are a better fit for online retailing than others. Sharon Huss, manager and co-owner of Uniquely Yours, a variety store in Faulkton that has won national awards for its creative displays, is one retailer that tried online sales and dropped it.
• "It wasn't very successful, or at least not successful enough to keep maintaining the website," Huss said. "Our inventory changed so frequently that we couldn't keep up with maintaining it, so we eventually just let it go. It's not what the store is really about anyway. We like people to come into the store, get a cup of coffee and have a look around."
• The internet has changed the way that one newspaper does business. Thirteen years ago, the Groton Independent newspaper took the plunge to start an on-line daily paper. At one point, there were only 10 subscribers to the on-line paper as people did not want to make the change, according to Paul Kosel, publisher of the Groton Daily Independent and the Groton Independent. Today, more people get the on-line Groton Daily Independent than the weekly print edition of the Groton Independent. Most of the news articles now come via e-mail. The articles that appear in the Groton Daily Independent appear in the weekly print edition.
• The Groton Daily Independent was one of the first weekly newspapers in the state to begin with a major on-line presence. Kosel maintains his own website and publishes the daily paper each morning. "Our readers like the on-line edition because it's current," Kosel said. "People can read about the city council or school board meeting story the following morning. Game results are also published the following morning."
• Something new that the Groton Daily Independent is doing this year is blogging the football games, both home and away. "Our on-line publication gives us an additional revenue opportunity to help offset what we are losing on the weekly side," Kosel said. "

• The sales tax question
• The success of local businesses is a concern for local and state governments, as well as for the businesses and their communities. If local businesses have fewer sales, the state gets less sales tax revenue. Any municipality with a sales tax also has less money coming in.
• Theoretically, if a North or South Dakotan makes a purchase online and does not

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