New York magazine’s cover story a few weeks back was headlined Freakoutonomics.
The subhead was: Few are feeling the city’s economic pain as acutely as shopkeepers, restaurant proprietors, and small-business owners. Amid eerily empty sidewalks and race-to-the-bottom sales, the questions are: What will it take for them to survive? And how are you doling out your dollars?
Read that last sentence again. How are you doling out your dollars?
This recession is not only about people who are suffering because of layoffs and bad mortgages, but about people who still have money in their wallets choosing not to spend because they feel nervous about the future. That’s not totally a bad thing — as a country, we’ve been on a credit-drunk bender for years and building up a little financial safety net isn’t a bad idea.

The fallout of that, though, is that gutwrenching feeling when you’re surprised to see a favorite business closed for good. Sometimes, if you’re honest with yourself, you might realize that in spite of how much you loved the place, you’re not quite sure when the last time was you put any money in their cash register. And your affection doesn’t pay the rent.
This isn’t a change someone has made but one I’m asking you to make: Get out a little piece of paper and make a short list of the businesses you would be devastated to see shuttered. Then tuck that list into your wallet as a reminder to show them some financial support.
This isn’t saying go spend money you don’t have. If you love your local car dealer, you don’t have to go buy a new expensive car. (Although they might kiss you on the mouth if you do.) But could you get your oil changed there instead of the quickie lube place? What about getting some of your routine maintence done there? There are plenty of big and small ways you can make a difference for a business that’s struggling to cover costs.
In New York, my list would include local icons Lombardi’s and Zabar’s. Although judging from the crowds at both, there’s precious little chance either one would fail, I don’t take either for granted. Plenty of places that seemed successful and/or popular have fallen in recent months. Check this list on Yelp or this one on Eater just for stunning tallies of doomed restaurants.
I would also be really sad if Tex-Mex joint El Centro in Hell’s Kitchen closed, if the Gray Line tour busses stopped rolling through town or if we couldn’t get New Jersey tomatoes at Greenmarket from Stokes Farm.
It’s not exactly an independent local business, but I’ve also become a big fan of the Banana Republic in our neighborhood, where the clothes are good for the price and the staff is consistently helpful. Since the BR in the Village recently closed, it appears even Goliath isn’t recession proof.
Back in Ann Arbor, it’d be Arbor Brewing, Jerusalem Garden and Orchid Lane topping the list. And just next door, in Ypsilanti, Sidetrack rules with a tempeh reuben and deep fried pickles so good we often stop there for food straight from Metro Airport.
What are the businesses you love most — the ones you would absolutely hate to see papered over? And what can you do to help them through the recession?