Shop in Seagoville continues to gain momentum as a local news, information and business platform, attracting 4,731 unique visitors during the first 14 days of August while strengthening its mission to connect residents of Seagoville, Crandall and Combine with the businesses that serve them.
From Aug. 1 through Aug. 14, Shop in Seagoville recorded 6,584 visits and 83,377 page views, according to internal website analytics.
Those numbers represent more than website traffic. They offer growing evidence that residents are beginning to make Shop in Seagoville part of their regular routine for hometown news, school information, sports, community events, local features and things to do.
Building a Daily Local Habit
Owner and editor Merv Moore said the long-term goal is for Shop in Seagoville to become a destination residents instinctively check every day.
“We want Shop in Seagoville to become a daily habit for people in our communities,” Moore said. “When somebody wakes up and wants to know what is happening at the schools, what is going on this weekend, how the local teams did or what businesses have something worth checking out, I want them to think of Shop in Seagoville.”
The early numbers suggest that goal is becoming increasingly realistic.
With 4,731 unique visitors through only Aug. 14, the website is building toward its next major milestone: 10,000 unique monthly visitors. Shop in Seagoville is targeting that mark as early as September as its audience, local coverage and community awareness continue to expand.
But Moore said attracting readers is only one part of the mission.
“The bigger goal is connecting those readers with local businesses,” Moore said.
“We want people spending their money in Seagoville, Crandall, Combine and Southeast Dallas whenever possible. When people shop locally, more of those dollars remain in the community. Local businesses grow, they hire people, they sponsor teams and community activities, and they help strengthen the entire area.”
More Spanish-Language Coverage
One of the website’s most significant recent expansions has been an increase in Spanish-language articles designed to better serve Hispanic families and business owners throughout the area.
Shop in Seagoville has also introduced its Hispanic Business Initiative, an effort to build stronger relationships with Hispanic-owned businesses while expanding the website’s Spanish-language presence.
Lerma Moore said serving a growing and diverse community requires more than simply publishing traditional news stories.
“People need a local media outlet that informs them, but it should also be useful and enjoyable,” Lerma Moore said.
“We want families to find stories that affect their lives, discover activities they can enjoy, follow their schools and teams and learn about businesses they may not have known were right here in their own community.”
She said the goal is to give readers reasons to return throughout the week rather than visiting only when major news occurs.
“We want Shop in Seagoville to feel like part of the community,” she said. “Something people check every day because there is always something new, interesting or helpful waiting for them.”
A Different Story Behind the Website
The creation of Shop in Seagoville was not originally part of the Moores’ 2026 plans.
Merv and Lerma Moore had planned to develop a youth baseball and softball academy on Bohol Island designed to provide athletic and academic opportunities for Filipino children, particularly young people from economically disadvantaged families.
Economic fallout in the Philippines associated with the Iran war and global energy disruption helped force the couple to postpone those plans until at least 2027.
While his dream of developing minor league baseball prospects has been put on hold, the 1984 SHS grad has turned his attention back toward his hometown and another longtime passion: community journalism.
For Moore, it was a return to familiar territory.
He founded The Seagoville Gazette newspaper in 1991 before eventually leaving community journalism and embarking on an international baseball coaching career.
“The Seagoville Gazette was known as the ‘People’s newspaper’ because we printed the good and bad from city hall, which The Suburbia News, owned by the Seagoville mayor, only printed the good news from the local government unit,” Moore said.
“The technology is different today, but I still believe a community benefits from having a media outlet that belongs to the people who live there.”
That philosophy is helping shape Shop in Seagoville.
The website’s coverage extends beyond breaking news to schools, prep sports, community events, local government, restaurants, family activities, pets, alumni features, bargains, contests, entertainment and business information.
“We want Shop in Seagoville to be the place area folks visit to learn what is happening in the community,” Moore said. “But I don’t want a website that people visit once because something bad happened. I want something useful enough and entertaining enough that they come back tomorrow.”
Connecting Residents With Local Businesses
That relationship between readership and local commerce is central to the Shop in Seagoville business model.
The website does not intend to simply sell businesses an advertisement and wait for someone to see it.
Through the Shop in Seagoville Founders Club, participating businesses can receive advertising combined with promotional and customer-generation campaigns designed to increase visibility, generate traffic and help turn readers into customers.
Campaigns can incorporate website promotion, feature articles, social media, contests, special promotions, sponsorship opportunities and other marketing strategies depending on the type of business.
“We don’t want to tell a business owner, ‘Here’s your banner ad. Good luck,’” Moore said. “If somebody becomes one of our business partners, our job is to think about how we can actually help that business get attention and bring customers through the door.”
The approach is built around a simple cycle: produce local content people want to read, grow a highly concentrated hometown audience and then use that audience to introduce residents to local businesses.
“If we can help a resident discover a great local restaurant, contractor, dentist, salon, retailer or service provider instead of automatically taking their money outside the community, everybody wins,” Moore said. “That’s what Shop in Seagoville is supposed to accomplish.”
Major Prep Sports Preview Coming Aug. 28
Sports coverage will also receive a major boost later this month.
On Friday, Aug. 28, Shop in Seagoville will unveil its comprehensive Area Prep Football and Volleyball Preview, providing extensive preseason coverage of local teams as the fall sports season moves into full swing.
The special coverage is expected to become another major traffic driver as parents, students, athletes, alumni and local sports fans begin following their teams throughout the fall.
Football and volleyball coverage will join an expanding lineup of school news and sports reporting designed to make Shop in Seagoville a year-round destination for area families.
Local Readers. Local Businesses. Local Dollars.
The numbers from the first half of August are encouraging, but Moore said traffic statistics alone will never define whether Shop in Seagoville succeeds.
The larger measurement will be whether the website can help create stronger connections among residents, schools, organizations and locally owned businesses.
“We’re proud of 4,731 unique visitors, but I don’t want to build a website just so we can brag about traffic numbers,” Moore said. “I want to build an audience that has value to this community.”
That means giving residents useful reasons to visit while continually reminding them that many of the products and services they need can be found close to home.
“Every local dollar matters,” Moore said. “Our top priority is convincing people to shop locally whenever they can. If Shop in Seagoville can become a daily habit for thousands of residents and then use that relationship to help local businesses grow, that’s the kind of local media company we want to build.”
