As Cyber Monday offers filled the inboxes of consumers nationwide Monday, local businesses jumped on the hype to offer their own exclusive discounts for online shoppers.

Durango Mountain Resort, Osprey Packs and San Juan Mountain Guides were among those that offered Cyber Monday deals. Though these and other businesses joined in the cyber holiday looking to boost sales, others argued the discounts do more harm than good.

2611Art, a small Durango-based clothing and art store, granted deals offering 20 percent off purchases of more than $25, as well as 25 percent off sales for their spinoff store Trill Pens.

“We don’t do an insane amount of sales online, but we thought we’d go along with it,” said co-owner Nicole Neals. “We decided not to do Black Friday because of the negative reputation of how people get on Black Friday, but we decided to do Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.”

By midday, the store saw a rise in activity on social media through sharing and interaction on Facebook, Neals said. She hoped for sales on the East Coast, where the business began and where it sees most of its online sales go.

Other local owners were not as enthusiastic.

“As a downtown business owner, I try and do as much of my shopping as I can in town, and I know the more shopping that happens online, the less choice we will have in our community,” said Maria’s Bookshop co-owner Andrea Avantaggio.

Avantaggio said she does not oppose Cyber Monday, but Maria’s Bookshop, which does limited online sales and shipping, does not take part in supporting it.

“I’m not opposed to shopping online, but I love when people try their local sources first,” she said. “It becomes our mentality when we can go online, we want everything right now.”

San Juan Mountain Guides offered a 15 percent discount on Avalanche 1 and Avalanche 2 courses, which director and owner Nate Disser said give people a chance to brush up on mountain safety knowledge.

People as far away as Cleveland and Florida, who knew they would be in the area anyway, took advantage of the deal, Disser said.

This was the fourth year San Juan Mountain Guides has offered Cyber Monday deals, and Disser said that even before the end of the day, the business saw a jump in sales from previous years.

Disser encourages shopping locally but says competition for retail has expanded beyond that.

“I think that’s just the nature of business; you have to stay on top of your game,” Disser said. “I understand that competition in business is global and national and retail and local – it takes all forms.”

Yet online shopping is far from the tactile experience offered through in-person shopping, as Avantaggio pointed out.

“It’s hard to browse online for anything,” she said. “We hear from our customers all the time that there is nothing like coming into a bookstore. It’s not the screen experience, it’s the personal experience.”

Sarah Ford is a junior majoring in journalism at the University of Denver. [email protected]