Spending habits reflect tough times

As the heat of America’s recession finds its way to Milledgeville, the consumption of luxuries and necessities differs from normal consumption patterns than in times of economic growth, and small businesses and consumers are changing the way they do things in an effort to save money.

“When money is available, my friends and I normally eat out all the time. But now it seems to be either fast food or we eat at home, because nobody has the extra money to spend on things we don’t need,” junior Leah Belgard said.

This issue arises as the community weighs the importance of necessity versus luxury.

“I do find time for luxuries. Every now and again, we will splurge on places like The Brick or on coffee,” Belgard said. “Because sometimes we just decide to be hideously, irresponsible college students who spend the money that we don’t have.”

College students are not the only consumers in downtown Milledgeville that are changing their normal consumption patterns. Places like Harrold’s Tux, which caters to an older crowd, are aware of the recession’s effects as well.

“Overall we feel it. It’s just in the air. Not necessarily in the figures, but you can feel it,” Harold Goodrich, owner of the store, said.

Goodrich commented that the people of Milledgeville are acting very conservative with their money now that the United States has entered into such an economic crisis.

“There is less free money to be spent. … People are being affected by the sense of uncertainty,” Goodrich said.

In an effort to combat the effects of the recession, businesses are taking precautions to ensure that their establishments will not be negatively affected.

“I have noticed that a lot of fast food restaurants now have dollar menus or have at least reworded their dollar menus to appeal to those in financial need,” Belgard said. She added that these businesses are trying to counteract the happenings of the economy by advertising discounts and sales in their stores.

On the contrary, Chris Avirett, general manager of Blackbird Coffee, mentioned that his business is not spending extra money on advertising.

“We have kept the same steady stride. We are working on more behind-the-counter savings ideas. Advertising is a waste in the summer since most of our customers are college students and the people that work downtown,” Avirett said.

Even though coffee appears to be a “low-cost luxury,” Avirett said people in the community are finding ways to cut down in clever ways. Instead of having business dinners, business people are finding that meeting up in a coffee house gets the job done too.

“We have also seen people come in that normally do not. It has almost been a fair trade-off. You can get a cup of coffee cheaper than a dinner.”

Trade-offs are effective if a person still wants to continue in the same consumption or selling patterns but not spend so much money.

“More people are drinking water instead of soda, and in general, are ordering less,” Jimmy Holder, the general manager of The Brick, said.

The costumers are not the only ones making changes.

“This year you’ll see The Brick launch a new menu with new items. We will be celebrating our 16-year anniversary in September, where we will reveal some new entertainment pursuits,” Holder said. “Even in the recession, we can’t get complacent. We have to keep spending money on our store for the benefit of our customers.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 18 2009. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry