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Jamie Istas, owner of The Pink Zebra Boutique, at 221 Oak Street, says her business is doing just fine. In fact, despite the economic downturn, sales have increased.

“I would say my sales are up from last year,” Istas said of her business that specializes in clothing and unique handbags and jewelry at affordable prices. “Maybe they would be up more, July is typically a slow month … but, in general, as far as year-to-date sales, (we’re) up. I feel like we’re holding our own definitely still.”

But downtown businesses like Sunflower Embroidery, 605 E. Front Street, and Freseros Mexican Restaurant, 220 Cedar, aren’t faring so well. Rita Hurt, owner of Sunflower Embroidery, has been operating her business for 15 years, and moved her long-standing Basehor business to Bonner about one-and-a-half years ago.

She specializes in fabrics, quilting and personalized embroidery. Her business also included a gift shop, offering such items as antiques and country gifts. On Wednesday of this week however, Hurt was forced to close the gift shop because of a lack of sales.

“The gas got higher, and people quit spending,” she says of why people stopped coming in to buy items from her gift shop.

Hurt said she had noticed the difference for quite some time and tried to entice prospective shoppers with buy one get one 50 percent off sales and even a spin-the-wheel game, where whatever discount the spinner landed on, the customer received that off their purchase.

But it wasn’t enough. Hurt will move her quilting and embroidery business to a new and smaller location at 11939-A Kaw Drive, to be open sometime next week. Though she says she will still carry small, under $5 gifts, she will be moving without her full gift shop.

“I’m not extremely happy about it because I love to do that stuff,” Hurt said. “I just think that it just ain’t working for me.”

Though not forced to close or move just yet, Freseros Mexican Restaurant owner Kathy Morado says she is facing a similar situation. She said the restaurant hadn’t been getting near the clientele it brought in when she opened the restaurant last December.

“It’s not a pretty sight lately,” Morado said. “From 2 (p.m.) to 5 (p.m.), there’s nobody in here. We may get a few here and there. Saturdays have been completely dead. We started closing Sundays because it wasn’t worth it. There was no business. I mean, very little. It was barely enough to pay the employees what we would make on a Sunday.”

Morado said she was not sure if the blame could be placed on the summer months when most restaurants saw a temporary drop in sales or the road work going on further down Kansas Highway 32, which makes it difficult for some to drive to her business.

The economy might play a big part in why less people are eating out, as well, but Morado says whatever the case, she tries her best to make Freseros a place where people like to eat no matter what. She said she lowered her prices and offered coupons for menu items. She hasn’t yet seen much in the way of positive results from these actions.

“I just have to take it day by day,” Morado said. “I’m just hoping for it to happen, a really big turnover. I’d love it. I’m hoping to stay here. I don’t want to leave.”

While these businesses are struggling, Istas said perhaps the reason for her success was that women still love to shop, no matter how bad the economy is. She calls this phenomenon “affordable retail therapy.”

“They may not buy as much as they typically would, but I feel they still leave with something that makes them feel good,” she said.

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