SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — This winter storm is hitting at a crucial time for shoppers who are looking to finish checking off their holiday gift lists in the next two weeks.

While the snow is falling on Phillips Avenue in Sioux Falls, businesses are still open.

“Traffic has slowed down more than it would be normally this time of year, but people are still out and shopping,” Nancy Savage Child’s Play Toys Sioux Falls.

Just up I-29, Watertown’s Kemp Avenue is back open for business today.

“Yesterday pretty much everything was closed downtown unfortunately with the winter weather,” said Missy Sinner, Dustin Sinner Fine Art in Watertown. “We did end up doing some online sales, we did 20 percent off any online order yesterday and also released a new piece of art to try and increase traffic.”

Further north in Aberdeen, about half of the businesses on Main Street were closed yesterday, with some staying closed today, but others are still welcoming shoppers through the storm.

“Our traffic has been still quite busy, there’s a lot of snow coming down, and finally the plows are out, but it’s been great, our social media has been saving us, people have been coming in still, I have lots of girls working, it been good,” said Melissa Larson, Karisma Boutique in Aberdeen.

Business along Pierre Street in the Capital City has also slowed or shut down entirely from continued snowfall, but the biggest impact to Main Street is in western South Dakota where winter weather has brought a lot of business to a halt the past two days.

“There are quite a few businesses downtown that closed early yesterday or maybe didn’t open at all. I had a limited staff, just had myself and one other in, stayed open until 2 p.m. yesterday until they closed the interstate,” Who’s Toy House owner Somer Kingsbury said.

Who’s Toy Store on Main Street Square says traffic did pick back up downtown later this afternoon and evening, but any missed hours of business during this crucial holiday shopping time is a challenge.

“Closing down is never ideal for weather, but especially during the holidays. It does bring a certain level of stress to a business owner when those days are gone, you can’t necessarily get that time back,” Kingsbury said. 

But all of these business owners across the state say they’re anticipating a very busy weekend of shoppers making up for the time they missed during this week’s storm. Even without the winter weather, this weekend before Christmas is usually one of the busiest shopping days of the year.