DELTA, Colo (KREX) - If you're driving through downtown Delta, there's a chance you may stop at some local businesses.
In recent times, many local shops have enjoyed an uptick in customers. Mimi Sweet Treat's Co-business owner Naomi Sutliff opened her ice cream shop around the Fourth of July, and it has been busy non-stop.
Sutliff states, "The demand is incredible. We have repeat customers. We already have one gentleman who comes in for two scoops. The two weeks that we have been open and within those two weeks, I had to close for days just to make our ice cream. We've had to close early to make ice cream because we've run out. So, keeping up with the demand is difficult because we use all homemade ice cream."
Naomi tells WesternSlopeNow that she's been receiving nothing but compliments and seeing happy smiles.
Sutliff explains, “The community loves it. Everybody is happy to see us here and thrilled to see us here. I get so many comments that Delta needs this and the neat part about it is most native adults. People that grew up born and raised serving members.”
Officials say business growth in Delta County has been slowly rising since 2020.
Director of One Delta Country and Economic Alliance Greg Pope states, “Our economy continues to see strong steady growth, not off the chart's growth, the kind that goes up and comes back down. but just nice, steady growth.”
As part of that steady growth, local businesses are beginning to expand throughout the county.
“The good thing about that is retail businesses follow people and jobs and income, so we're seeing quite a few new businesses brought and the good thing about it is it's all across the county,” Pope explains.
As more businesses grow within these communities, local collaboration also increases.
“When you see the business community come together, wanting to work with the city you know. A lot of growth in cities, etcetera is driven by the municipality. We're seeing a very high involvement from the business community," Pope states.
If you're in town, check out these local shops.