More small business calling it quits

Some say the current economic recovery is the worst since FDR. In many communities, I think it's a false assumption to believe they've seen any recovery at all. While government reports occasionally tout promising data, how much of that it is due to spin, tinkering, or something called seasonal adjustment?

On main streets and in shopping centers, I see more local businesses closing. Many owners thought they were prepped for a downturn. Some with two or three, even four years of cash reserves to see things through. But it's been that long. And longer.

The Ace Hardware on Five Forks in Lilburn is calling it quits. Long a fixture in the Mountain Park neighborhood, for whatever reason, it's going away.

Ironically, I've been shopping neighborhood hardware stores more in these down years. The big box stores seem ever obsessed with tighter inventories. Many things they used to sell year-round are now available only seasonal, if at all. And the big box business model seems to increasingly focus on selling you a new replacement rather than stocking the right do-dad to fix what you already have.

I'll miss this local Ace. But there are others I visit more often, and last I checked, they're still going strong.

I also see another child care business closed near me. I've probably passed a dozen other vacant day cares in Gwinnett and DeKalb in the last couple weeks.

Used to be, child day care was considered a recession proof business. Apparently not so anymore.

Where are the kids going now? I suspect many stay at home with unemployed parents. Or get dropped with friends or relatives who can't find work. Government stats tell us more and more long-unemployed Americans are dropping out of the work force. At least there's still one economic stat from the government that might ring true.