Shop owners shut doors on their dreams
MUNDELEIN, Ill. -- Audrey Frankowski lived her dream for 21 years. It died this month when the sour economy forced her to close Jungleland Pet Center.
She sold Betty the boa and the last puppies and kittens, got 10 cents on the dollar for leftover goods and took home Ozzie, a macaw she couldn't bear to sell.
Frankowski and her husband, Rick, locked the store's doors for the final time after taking down the "50% off" signs and their handwritten farewell to customers: "More than words can express, we have enjoyed 21 wonderful years of caring for you and your pets. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
Frankowski, 53, isn't sure what she'll do now. Rick Frankowski, 47, is working seven days a week as a security guard. Store manager Bill Allen, 58, Audrey's brother, hopes to find a sales job. Walking away from the store they all loved, Allen says, "is depressing, and it's so sad."
The economy is forcing many other small businesses to close — including some owned by families for generations — shrinking shoppers' options and eroding communities' character.
The February economic report by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) warns the recession could force "widespread business failures."
The economic stimulus package probably won't help much, says the NFIB's tax counsel, Bill Rys. The group failed to persuade Congress to suspend payroll taxes for six months to reduce small businesses' labor costs. No federal or trade group tracks closures of family businesses.
Not deep enough reserves
There are about 25 million family-owned businesses in the USA, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to mom-and-pop operations, says Robin Klemm, director of a family-business program at Oregon State University.
"What you're seeing is more of the small ones biting the dust," she says. They are most at risk in tough times because many lack solid business plans and deep reserves, Klemm says. "A rising tide lifts all boats, but when the tide recedes, if you're not over deep water, you're dead."
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