Ice Cream Bills

The Buffalo area has been in recession since Bethlehem Steel closed many years ago. That's a fact I grew up knowing and it hasn't really gotten better. My mom made the comment the other day while we were walking around Williamsville that she wondered if Buffalo wasn't seeing the crunches other areas might be because its residents were already used to recession conditions. I agreed, thinking that made sense. Today, though, I found a place that was feeling it. Sweet Jenny's, a homemade ice cream place on Main Street, recently moved locations from a converted house that had a number of tables and a long bar at which to order in it, to a cramped store front next to a self-dog groomers. The ice cream is just as good, the chocolates just as enticing, but the location leaves much to be desired. It turns out that the building owners raised the rent. My guess would be that the economy hurts people of all walks of life, store owners and those that they rent from, but it would seem a little bit irrational to do so, especially this time of year when an ice cream place right on the main drag of Williamsville will be doing better business and might then be able to survive a rent increase. But who buys a cone to walk with in winter? (OK, I would eat one in my car, but some people are soup people in the winter, not ice cream people.)

I wonder if other local businesses are feeling the economic problems begin to build up. My good friend's father owns a construction company and I started to wonder if fewer people would build. If more people are staying where they are because they just can't go somewhere new. I guess I needed somewhere I'm familiar with to change before I really understood the power of the dollar in a business. That's just not an end of the world I am well-versed in. While I can keep one checking and one savings account pretty much in order, I don't think a book of accounts would be my cup of tea.