The View From Main Street

Scattered with empty buildings of businesses that came and went, West Tampa's Main Street has always seen trying times. But now customers come by even less often, and owners play a waiting game.

In Dunedin, specialty boutiques dot a quaint downtown that draws tourists and locals. Although the independent cantinas, pubs and shops provide some buffer, owners find they have to go further to make ends meet.

The antique shops of Dade City's historic downtown draw window shoppers on a day trip. These days, gas prices deter the drive, shoppers who do come have less to spend and vacant facades are starting to appear.

Helping Main Street, and not only Wall Street, with the economy is now engrained in the political lexicon. Our Main streets are disparate, but the conversations are remarkably similar: shaken optimism, yet perseverance.

Barbershop's Customers Cutting Corners In Tampa

Two years ago, a stockbroker warned Ben Wright the economy would sour.

Wright, a barber at Foster's Barber Shop, took his client's words to heart. He sold a second car and downsized to a one-bedroom apartment.

This year, the economic slowdown has escalated at the Main Street barbershop where the 35-year-old has worked for six years. The real estate agents, contractors and handymen who were regulars don't return as often.

On a recent weekday, Wright and barbershop owner Nathaniel Foster, 69, sat waiting for customers.

Clients came more often because they wanted to get groomed for movie and dinner dates and family outings to Disney World, Wright said. The economy has curtailed those activities.

"People are only getting their hair cut for work," Wright said. At the barbershop, an adult cut is $12 and a child's cut is $10.

Foster, who has owned a barbershop on West Tampa's Main Street for 40 years, said he couldn't recall a similar economic crisis where unemployment, gas prices, housing and auto sales were all in disarray.

"We can still pay the light bill, water bill and heat," Foster said.

"But there is no gravy," Wright said.

Customer Loring Burrell of Tampa said it was obvious the economy was going to unravel when once homes started selling at high prices. Some people might learn from this crisis, he said, but greed will create another downturn in the future.

"If there is money to be made, there will be people out there doing whatever it takes to make it," said Burrell, a Tampa police officer.

Down the street from Foster's sits Sandra Thomas, owner of Ms. Sandra's Beauty Salon. She has owned her business for 28 years, the last two on West Tampa's Main Street. The street isn't a tourist destination, doesn't have a restaurant row and is sprinkled with vacant and dilapidated buildings.

Thomas is considering trying to get a day job as a Wal-Mart greeter and running her business in the evening.

In the past, there would be people waiting outside for her to open. On a weekday, which in the past had been a popular time for senior citizens, there isn't a client.

"People are making a choice of food and hair, gas and hair," said Thomas, 56.

"It is not that they don't want to come," Thomas said. "It's that they don't have the money."

Although she has had moments in the past where she felt dispirited, she now feels hopeful and is putting her trust in her faith that it will work out, even if it means changing careers.

"My faith is keeping me right now," Thomas said. "My faith is God and it will always keep me."

5 Questions With Ben Wright Of Foster's Barber Shop:

Q: What part of the economy worries you most?

A: The main thing is the businesses. Without that, you can't get any jobs. That's the motor of the whole thing. ... If you are not working, you can't take care of the credit cards, you can't pay the bills.

Q: What are you doing to cope with it?

A: You make adjustments. You don't go out to eat as much. You don't go to the movies as much. You kind of do everything in the house. You cook more. You don't drive as much. If you do drive, it's mainly for what you need to do. No extra stuff.

Q: What links, if any, do you see between the meltdown on Wall Street and your own economic situation?

A: I feel like that stock market is a guideline to what is going on, it is a reflection. If that is down, this is, of course, going to be down. It is all connected together, to me. If the stock market is not doing well, that probably means we aren't doing well out here. It's a good guideline.

Q: Will the economy affect whether you vote in this election or whom you vote for?

A: It will because everybody is looking for change, especially me, too. I already vote. It just makes me talk to other people more about voting than I would in the past. ... When things are good, you really didn't care if anybody voted as long as you vote. But now when it's bad, you not only care about yourself voting, you care about other people voting to help things change.

Q: Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the economy?

A: I'll be optimistic, but it'll be further in the future. Back in the day when there was a Depression things got better - it just took time. If we made it through that time, we can make it through this time. I think that time was a lot worse than it is now.

Businesses Employ Versatility, Spunk In Dunedin

With the economy tumbling and the usual foot traffic at a crawl, Regina Invandino had to get creative.

As a result, the remodeled Cappuccino's Bakery Cafe in downtown Dunedin has a long wine bar, hosts evening wine tastings and serves beer with your sandwich or Invandino's signature Italian pastries.

"I had to do it because I'd be out of business," she said. "Anything to bring people in the doors."

Invandino, who has run the shop at 733 Broadway for five years, isn't the only one feeling the pinch in the quaint and popular downtown district. Many of the independent merchants here are scrimping wherever possible as Wall Street takes a dive and customers clutch their wallets.

The Main Street strip, a few blocks from the Gulf of Mexico, has developed a loyal customer base of locals and tourists in the past decade with its pubs, cantinas and specialty shops. That, merchants say, has insulated them a bit.

"You don't see any empty storefronts in Dunedin," said Coleen Coble, owner of The Celtic Shop, 354 Main St.

Coble, loading frozen blood sausage and beefsteak and kidney pies into a freezer, said she chooses to be optimistic, even as she discovered the haggis she special-ordered was missing from the box.

Coble has owned the shop for three years and she sees staying power in specialty stores such as hers. Her store is stocked with Irish, Scottish and British scarves, tams, shirts and gifts. In a town that boasts of its Scottish heritage, it doesn't hurt, she said.

People might scrimp on pricier purchases, but these gifts of the heart, as she calls them, still sell, though she has cut back on the gold, silver and crystal items.

"You can work a little harder, or you can just give up," she said.

Next door, Ira Burhans has been selling artwork for 14 years at The Painted Fish Artists' Studio & Gallery, 350 Main St. He shares the shop with his wife, Barbara, and Bill and Linda Renc, all of them artists.

Art is a discretionary expenditure for most people, he said, so the artists have been forced to change their approach. For Burhans, a potter, that means more road trips to summer art shows as far away as Wisconsin and Virginia.

The money is good, he said, but it's costing him more to get it.

"You gotta go forward and do what you gotta do," he said.

He said this economy reminds him of the post-Sept. 11 period when people were anxious, but not sure why. He said many seem reluctant to use credit cards and incur debt, but are buying some things.

"I'm still fairly optimistic," he said. "We're still making our rent."

Dog groomer Juanita McMullen said the same, but added that's largely because the rent in her old building is relatively low.

Her Countryside-Dunedin Pet Boutique at 457 Main St. has developed a loyal customer base in her 26 years there, she said. Most of them continue to make appointments, "but the main thing is people are extending the time between groomings," she said.

Some are even trying their own hand at clipping their pets.

"I think we all have to tighten our belts," she said.

A recent review of her statements showed income was down $391 from September 2006 and $693 from September 2007.

"So that's a lot for one month," she said. "I didn't want to go any further."

McMullen said she thinks "it's going to be a while" before there is a recovery, but plans to stick through it.

"We hope to be here another 26 years," she said.

5 Questions With Ira Burhans Of The Painted Fish:

Q: What part of the economy worries you the most?

A: I think the overall credit situation is concerning. It has been slower this year. People still want to buy things - maybe they're not using their credit card as much.

Q: What are you doing to cope with it?

A: I'm working hard for the buck. I'm traveling more to do out-of-state art shows. Other years, I never left the state.

Q: What links, if any, do you see between the meltdown on Wall Street and your own economic situation?

A: On a personal level, the little bit of stocks in our retirement fund, just throw it out and forget about it. A lot of that, I don't understand it. We just try to be conservative. I don't see businesswise [where it has hurt].

Q: Will the economy affect whether you vote in this election or whom you vote for?

A: I already decided who I was going to vote for, and I vote in every election. I decided before the economy tanked.

Q: Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the economy?

A: I'm optimistic. That's just my nature. If I don't watch too much TV or listen to too many talking heads, I stay optimistic.

Fewer Visitors Nibbles At Optimism In Dade City

Seventh Street is a walking tour: a historical courthouse, women in red hats eating pecan chicken on Limoges porcelain, a destination for day-trippers hunting for antiques.

But as the economy worsens, fewer are willing to drive to Pasco's county seat to go window shopping.

Those who make the trek seem to have less money to spend on lunches and household furnishings.

For business owners, they see customers cutting budget corners - and they have to cut costs themselves, too.

"The young women who used to come to my store - they all went back to work to help support their families," said Thaila Stilson, who has been in the antiques business in Dade City for 10 years. Her core customers have always been locals, but these days, they have less disposable income.

"You can't eat antiques," she said. "You can't fill your gas tank with them."

The city was an early participant in the state's Main Street Program to encourage historical preservation and revitalization of its commercial corridor. Empty storefronts were rare in Dade City.

But they have multiplied in the past year.

The local Main Street organization plans to post artwork in the empty windows this holiday season, converting them to galleries for the time being.

"If someone's going to drive 30 miles to get somewhere, the last thing we want is for them to see empty stores," said Allison Todd, a coffee shop owner.

Wilton Simpson has purchased vacant downtown buildings in the past two years and has tenants in each.

"My biggest concern is I don't want to see Dade City become a ghost town," he said.

Shoppers in Dade City say they follow the stock market, even if they don't own large portfolios.

Glenda Garcia knows people who have lost money in the market. She doesn't know how it will affect her - but it will somehow.

"It's scary," she said. "And everything's going up. People can't afford to buy groceries."

Candy Linville also worries about Wall Street.

"I watch CNBC all the time - not that I have that much," she said.

She frets about people who have lost their retirement income, and she's angry at the chief executive officers of companies that mismanaged money but walked away with millions.

"It just makes you lose faith," Linville said.

Todd hasn't been hit by the credit crunch or Wall Street crisis, but her coffee shop business has been scalded by higher gas prices.

"People who used to not charge for delivery now are," she said.

She would love to raise her prices, just a tad.

"But now is not the right time," she said. "Some of my prices are the same as when I opened five years ago."

Customers who used to eat out for lunch every day now pack their own, she said.

Even at Williams Lunch on Limoges - the town's iconic restaurant - business is "kind of slow" at the beginning of the week.

The family-owned business has been around for 100 years, but it's not recession-proof, co-owner Skip Mize said. But things are looking up - the snowbirds are calling to make reservations for November.

"We've been here through two depressions and all the wars," he said. "I have such a positive outlook on life. Everything's cyclical. We've seen ups and downs, and Dade City will always be a desirable place for business."

5 Questions With Thaila Stilson Of Seventh Street:

Q: What part of the economy worries you the most?

A: I don't think there's a quick fix, and I'm worried that it's not going to turn around in time to save the small business. I'm 60, and everything I have is wrapped up in this business. I don't have a 401(k). I don't see retirement anytime soon.

Q: What are you doing to cope with it?

A: We don't spend anything. We just pay bills and rent. I keep my head in the sand. Anybody in their right mind would close, but I'm not ready to be a greeter at Wal-Mart.

Q: What links, if any, do you see between the meltdown on Wall Street and your own economic situation?

A: I don't have employees. People are afraid to spend any money. There's very little shopping.

Q: Will the economy affect whether you vote in this election or whom you vote for?

A: Sure - that's a no-brainer. I've got strong political feelings.

Q: Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of the economy?

A: It'll turn around, but I'm not nearly as optimistic as I was with the S&L crisis 20 years ago. My outlook changes as I age.