Kingman – Local downtown small businesses are feeling the effects of inflation, but have been dealing with uncertainty for years.
Despite hoping the COVID-19 pandemic will be over for good, Kingman’s small businesses continue to adapt to an uncertain economy while meeting the needs of their customers.
Pete Jaramillo, owner of Shady Grove Records at 209 E. Beale Street, said the store opened just months before the pandemic hit, allowing it to respond to the evolving economy.
“Our business is kind of weird because we’ve always faced adversity,” Jaramillo said.
Jaramillo, which sells a wide variety of records and CDs, builds its business on customer demand. He realizes that his business doesn’t provide the products people need (such as food), but he still has a customer base that wants music.
“We learned very quickly how to change what was going on, keep up with our customer base, and maintain customer needs,” says Jaramillo.
To ease the pressure of inflation, staff are buying more vintage and customer-requested records. New records in production are becoming more expensive to produce and harder to obtain for Shady Grove Records customers.
“There are more new releases. When something already has a very thin margin, and its price goes up 30%, and it has a 30% profit margin, there’s no way people want to pay that much.” said Jaramillo.
Jaramillo said they are working with other downtown businesses to promote each other. He also said he runs sales throughout the holiday season to draw more people to his stores and downtown.
“We try to find as much inventory as possible so that we can give people something they might want,” says Jaramillo. “In contrast to big companies, we’re going to have a lot of sales and get people to spend their holiday money here.”
Leah Burkhart, owner of Gracie’s Vintage at 209 N. 4th St., said gas was the biggest expense she noticed. She participates in her many estate and yard sales to fill her vintage shop.
She noticed people were shopping less, but it didn’t seriously affect her business. She credited her regular customers and her Gen Z customers for appreciating her business.
“There was a huge influx of young people right before COVID-19, and that really helped,” says Burkhart. “I feel old, but I love that they love everything I love.”
Decades of jewelry, clothing and trinkets continue to sell despite economic changes. She hopes her season of holidays, especially Halloween, will bring in more crowds than usual.
Burkhart is also the only person working at Gracie’s Vintage. So if she’s going through a difficult month, I’m relying on her, not her staff.
“I think people are a little more conscious about their spending. Clearly, we don’t need anything here. I mean, yes,” Berkhardt said with a laugh.
Peggy Moore owns Farm Stand Foods, which specializes in a variety of home-cooked and baked goods. As a vendor at her 66 Market Place at 424 E. Beale St., Moore continues to see her customers come in for her products.
She said she feels safer in her business because people need food all the time. That’s what’s going on inside your body. That’s what you’re giving your children. ”
Raised by a grandmother who survived the Great Depression, Moore feels prepared to deal with the prices of a wide variety of foods and products, and hopefully teaches others the same. She is considering hosting a class on how to make household essentials that will save people money in the long run.
“I want to help people who are just starting out,” Moore said, explaining how easy it is to make soap, cheese, and pasta.
Business continues, but Moore has had to raise prices on soups, jellies and jams to match grocery store prices. She also worries about potential food shortages, such as flour, due to Ukrainian wheat production and the impact of the crisis on the market as a whole. I was. “But the quality will not change”
