Conflicting signs for small businesses

Last winter, when people grappled with paying high heating bills, many of Ron Poirier's customers skipped a scheduled oil change.

"They were all overdue," said the co-owner of Bob & Sons Automotive on Manchester's West Side. "They had to try to save somewhere."

This winter is proving even chillier -- January's sales were off 10 percent from last year's dismal numbers.

"We're just treading water waiting for the lifeboat to pick us up," he said. "We're expecting a lifeboat to come."

In Merrimack, retailer Jim Flowers saw December sales rise 15 percent at his store, Out of the Woods, which features New Hampshire products.

"To me, 15 percent wasn't what I wanted it to be but great compared to everybody else," Flowers said Friday. "I'm fortunate to say I was up."

The Scrapbook Attic on the mall in Lebanon is still open, but the signs on the door point to the end of the road for the shop, which is going out of business this week.

A flip of the calendar, however, has seen a reversal of fortunes.

"Right now, the concern is really high because we look at our sales for the month of January and we're way down," Flowers said. About 50 percent lower, with February looking "really slow," he added.

Across New Hampshire, small businesses are seeing customers tighten their wallets. And in a state where about one in four workers is employed at a business with fewer than 20 employees, the ripple effect from changes in consumer-spending habits could be far-reaching.

Signs of struggle

Signs of struggling small businesses can be found in communities around the state:

• Lebanon has witnessed business after business flee the city's pedestrian mall.

• Nashua's Main Street harbors adjoining businesses posting going-out-of-business signs.

• A Goffstown construction project has been delayed because the developer couldn't find tenants.

"People's disposable dollars are not what they used to be. Interest rates, fuel, and medical expenses have increased the most significantly," said Paul Sorli, who owns a restaurant in Portsmouth and is chairman of the city's Downtown Business Association.

"Then you've had the issue with subprime mortgage impacting the real estate market, so the consumer confidence piece is not quite there."

The Goffstown development was planned to house multiple businesses, but three industrial buildings that would have provided space for 10 to 15 tenants on Plummer Road are on hold, according to engineer Matthew Peterson.

"The delay in this project is basically based on this economy and where people are at and what they are looking for," he said.

Indications of economic hard times also are evident at the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center, which offers advice to people starting new businesses or adapting existing ones.

"What usually happens is as the economy takes a dip, our requests for services go up because more people are looking to build income," said Heidi Edwards Dunn, educational program coordinator.

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> In Nashua, Main Street store closings belie solid foundation (5)
> Hard times mixed with hope in Lebanon

And one way for people to attempt to build income is to start their own business.

"There's a lot of layoffs in the North Country. We more and more are finding people trying to start new businesses there," Dunn said.

Success story

Some small-business owners report keeping pace with last year's sales figures. Still others say they're bucking the trend and are ahead of projections.

From her Hopkinton home last April, Debby de Moulpied started an online business selling merchandise billed as environmentally friendly products from socially responsible companies.

In July, she moved Real Green Goods to a storefront on South Main Street in Concord four or five months ahead of schedule -- and before the nation's financial news grew grimmer.

"Even when we opened, there was absolutely no hint that the economy was going to be difficult," de Moulpied said. "There was no issue with mortgages or anything a year ago."

But her green business isn't seeing red.

"We blew our business plan out of the water. We far exceeded it. I think it was the timeliness of the green industry," de Moulpied said.

'No time to panic'

David Fehr, director of the Center for Financial Studies at Southern New Hampshire University, cautioned owners of struggling businesses not to overreact to the economic downturn.

"My opinion is, it's not productive for the small businesses to panic," he said. "We know that the economy runs in cycles."

Last May, Flowers opened up Out of the Woods Cafe five doors away from his shop in the same Merrimack plaza.

Boasting 108 coffee varieties, "The coffee shop has been doing phenomenal for us," he said.

It also has helped cushion the recent slowdown in his retail business.

"I'm in it for the long haul," Flowers said. "I have a five-year lease. I'm going to be there."

Correspondents Clare Kittredge, Stephen Beale, Jim Kozubek, Kristen Senz and Suzanne Bates contributed to this report.