In uncertain economy, business ranges from bad to good
By Jason Jacks
Hey, shopkeeper, how's business? With dropping consumer confidence, sinking home values and gas prices inching toward $4, you would expect a quick response of “terrible.”
But in Loudoun County, that's not always the case.
When several local small-business owners were recently posed the question, their answers ranged from “where are the customers” to “times could not be better.”
At Keep the Swing Indoor Golf Center in Ashburn, which opened in November, owner Dan Bonner, nursing a recently repaired hip, described April as a “very bad month.”
He said customers are visiting the center to try out its simulated courses, but few are returning a second time.
“The gas prices are ridiculous,” he said. “I also think people are cutting back on things that are not essential.”
To stir up interest in his company, he said, he intends to increase his advertising.
In downtown Leesburg, Tony Roddy, owner of the two-year-old Courthouse Deli, said sales have plummeted 50 percent from a year ago.
“Right now we are taking a hold-on type of philosophy,” he said.
He said he started noticing a drop-off in business as high gas prices and the downturn in the housing market started becoming regular fixtures in the news.
In times like this, he said, “people have a tendency to get cautious.”
Robin Suomi is the executive director of the Loudoun County Small Business Development Center, whose volunteers advise at-home businesses and start-ups on -- among other things -- marketing and business plans.
“We are busier than ever,” she said.
In 2007, about 1,900 people attended one of the center's start-your-own-business seminars, the most in the center's 21-year history, she said.
Reasons for the upswing in interest in self-employment, Suomi surmised, is that people are looking to supplement the income from their day job, or to change careers altogether to ones that are considered more stable.
As for what types of businesses are succeeding, she said, “While it's terrible for some types of businesses, it's amazing for some others.”
She said “green” businesses, federal contractors and companies working with children and the elderly are currently popular and thriving.
Though not fitting into any of those categories, several other Loudoun businesses reported normal to improving sales so far in 2008.
“We've been rolling since we opened,” said Jennifer Kreer, owner of the two-year-old Body Gallery tattoo parlor in Sterling Park, which also does piercings.
At the atmosphere-rich Old Lucketts Store off U.S. 15 north of Leesburg, owner Suzanne Eblen said business is slightly up this year.
“We actually do better during the bad times,” she said, citing that business even picked up immediately following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “People come here to get away from it all.”
Meanwhile, Dot Shetterly, proprietor of the Silverbrook Farm Bed and Breakfast in Hillsboro, said people are still snatching up rooms. Weekend reservations for the summer, she said, appear normal.
“Things are fine,” she said. “I'm as busy as I want to be.”
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com