Slow economy has silver lining for businesses

Some turning to repair or relaxation to cope

Budgets around the valley are being cut to adjust to a decrease in sales tax revenue. Home foreclosures are on the rise and Bayou in the Butte, the cajun music Swamp Fest that has been held in Crested Butte the last two summers, has been cancelled for economic reasons.

But the economic cloud casting a shadow on companies around the Gunnison Valley is showing its silver lining for a few businesses that offer savings or stress relief as perks for spending cash.
Bargain hunters have always been lured to second-hand stores in hopes that they’ll find an overlooked treasure on the shelf or rack at a fraction of its original price.
It’s no different in Crested Butte, where Clara Valdez, owner of the thrift store La Escondida, is starting to see enough shoppers to pay the rent, but not enough yet to turn on the heat.
“More people have found the store at its new location and the number of people shopping is the same for a while. But I have noticed that people are asking for more discounts, even for things that are one dollar. I tell them ‘no way,’ because we still have rent to pay. That’s why we don’t have the heat on,” says Valdez.
Recently Jerry Deverell, who volunteers at the store one day a week, saw more traffic than ever come into the store, and they spent $20, which was “great.”
“We have a lot of students when school starts at Western [State College] and then we had a lot of work visa students that came in from the ski area. We also have a couple of customers come in every Monday to see what’s new,” says Deverell.
At Six Points Thrift Store in Gunnison, this year is proving to be one of the best since the store opened more than 20 years ago.
“Over the last year, we’ve seen a higher number of shoppers and more revenue from sales, even after the half-price sale that we had in the first half of December,” says the store’s business manager, Jennifer Champ.
Sales totals from this past December were up by almost 15 percent over last year. Two weeks into January, the amount of revenue the store has generated is equal to the amount made in all of January 2008.
“If things continue the way they have been so far this month, January sales will be up at least 50 percent from what they were last year,” says Champ.
While retail stores are trimming their inventories in anticipation of slower sales, Champ says the Six Points store is still getting more donations than it can handle, often passing goods on for recycling when the store cannot hold any more on its shelves.
“The amount of donations being made are surprising, especially since so much of what we take in are replaceable things, like clothes, housewares and electronics. So people must still be buying those things, even in this economy,” says Champ.
Not only are those people buying new things for their homes, but some are also spending money on their bodies and ways to relieve the physical stress that might be rooted in money problems.
For Trish Sparks, owner of Serenity Massage and Bodywork in Gunnison, that means business is booming.
“Right now, for people getting massages it’s more about stress relief. I have had some people come in that have fallen on the ice, but there is a lot of stress reduction with the economy the way it is,” says Sparks. “I really think that it’s pretty hard on people.”
Conventional wisdom has always held that staying tense for a period of time traps toxins in the muscles of the body. Through massage, the toxins and stress can be released, improving the health and wellness of the patient.
“Stress relief is one of the main things that massage tries to accomplish. We increase circulation and remove the toxins that build up in the body,” she says. “There is just far more of the Swedish massage, which is gentler than a deep tissue or trigger point therapy. Stress relief will still be a benefit of either, but we are seeing more people solely interested in relaxation.”
That has kept Sparks busy and she says she is “continually getting new clients, most of them coming repeatedly every other week or once a month.”
Although business has been slower for Jessica Frankman at the White Lotus Massage and Wellness Center in Crested Butte, the clients who do come in are looking for much of the same.
“There are a lot of people looking for stress relief as well as for injuries, but stress relief is a part of treating injuries, as well. I think it’s all a part of the rest and repair of your body and meditation for your mind. The meditation part relaxes the body and gives a sense of well being that has effects on the central nervous system,” says Frankman.
Another business seeing a steady stream of clients is Crested Butte Auto, where cars are coming in for repairs even after the holidays, when visitors often run into car trouble and turn to the local garage for help.
Owner Bob Matalon says, “Early winter is traditionally busy with people moving into town, and all of the people that live here getting ready for winter—buying snow tires, winterizing and batteries and so forth. Then there is the normal holiday rush. But we’re still busy and we’re coming into the traditional mid-winter slow-down.”
But Matalon isn’t ready to attribute the business to a slow economy.
“It makes sense that people are keeping their cars running instead of buying a new one. You might be able to draw a conclusion if someone came in and asked to have their engine replaced instead of buying a new car, but it is really something that will take a few months of observing before we can get a real feel for that,” he says.
When asked if clients are having trouble paying for repairs, or if clients unable to pay had abandoned cars, Matalon frowns and simply says, “Some.”
“I do know a lot of the local people that are coming in here are hurting because of lay-offs or a lack of some of the construction work, restaurant and ski area work,” Matalon says
He points to a sedan with the hood up, “This person here is one of them.”
While Matalon cannot say people are forgoing buying cars because of the economy, he talks to a lot of people struggling with the impacts of the economy, and in any economy, people still need to get to work.