Business Opportunities Weblog

June 15, 2008 by Nicholas | 2 Comments

DelawareOnline:

Kenny Wynn has spent 26 years in the gas station business, and has surely seen his share of ups and downs. Tammi Jones-Seward opened her Middletown gift shop just a year ago, and is still learning to cope with the travails of ownership. For the moment, both are struggling along with an increasing number of small businesses around the state to weather economic turbulence that can be a test of survival for small operators.

A steady cascade of painful punches — higher gas prices, electric bills, talk of tax hikes, eroding consumer confidence — is battering the bottom line. Some are holding on and hoping; some are shifting and adapting.

Smiling is something that neither small-business owners nor customers are doing much of these days. A National Small Business Association survey of 500 small-business owners in February found that sales and profits had dropped and job growth was at the lowest point in 15 years. A year ago, 43 percent of owners had a “negative outlook” on the economy — by February, it had risen to 71 percent.

Faced with gas bills that eat up 5 percent of their pay, consumers are cutting back and driving less — often to superstores or malls — a potentially disastrous combination for small businesses.In response to rising costs — of products, raw materials, delivery — business owners have been gradually inching their prices higher, but know they risk losing business if they raise them too far, too fast.

“I’m under intense price pressure from my suppliers,” said Dan Maher, who opened a Virginia Barbecue franchise in Middletown last fall. But because his market strength — affordable meals — has become so advantageous in this economy, he is reluctant to pass those cost increases along.

Image via Elksnout

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