Jun 10, 2008

Businesses adapting new techniques to survive downturnBy Nicholas SohrTheDailyReview.com

Claire Williams has heard the economic horror stories as they rippled far and wide through American life. She can even see a few firsthand from the Mary-Go-Round gift shop.

But try as they might, the troubled times have yet to rock the appreciation, or guilt, that sends husbands, fathers, and children out in May for pink-enveloped cards, gift-bagged trinkets and fresh flowers with which they pay homage to M-O-M.

Mother’s Day signals a lush time of year when business hums for Williams, and offers safe, though fleeting, harbor during troubled times.

Fresh off that high point, Williams is optimistic about her business prospects, she says, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t making changes.

“When the gas prices went up, (business) flattened. I think people are just astonished by the price of gas and food,” she said. “I think there are some people who are absolutely unable to come out.”

During the slack period, fewer customers wandered through the shop on East Tioga Street, Tunkhannock’s main drag. Fewer still left with parcels under their arms and their dollars in the cash register.

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