Mower County Shopper Information

The Mower County Shopper began in 1964, when an Austin resident and local merchants believed that Austins trade area should be enlarged to enhance the continued growth of the town. The circulation of 5,000 copies were mailed to rural areas of South Central Minnesota and North Central Iowa. With advertisers reporting immediate results, the Mower County Shopper quickly grew from 8 & 12 pages to 16 & 24 pages and, in addition, began inserting preprints. Within six months the circulation soon grew to 17,000 copies distributed each week. In August of 1978, the Mower County Shopper merged with Shopper Enterprises, Incorporated, to become an intricate part of the SEI Network. Since 1974, the Mower County Shopper has undergone many changes. The circulation has steadily increased, currently reaching over 18,000 homes. A Sunday Shopper was added in 1988 to meet the advertisers needs in our broad coverage area and served over 13,000 households every week. We now publish only a Tuesday Shopper. In September of 1995, the Mower County Shopper was bought by Boone Newspapers, Inc. The Mower County Shopper is in the process of growing again! Since September 1995 the average paper size has increased from 24 pages to 32 pages! The Mower County Shopper includes many inserts from retailers all over our area and is the only FREE shopping publication delivered to over 19,000 homes in Austin and the surrounding communities.