“For Sale” and “Office Space for Rent” signs hang in windows of South Tucson storefronts where businesses used to be. Some businesses still have “Open” signs beside locked doors.
Many open businesses are quiet and nearly void of customers.
Most stores, from smoke shops to boot shops, and from appliance stores to restaurants are feeling the economic problems plaguing all of the United States.
Abelardo Frisby, general manager of Las Cazuelita’s Mexican Restaurant on East 22nd Street, says his sales are down at least 20 percent compared to last year.
“We’ve just been hanging out, just trying to survive the economy,” he says.
As Joe Martinez, owner of JC’s Tire and Wheel talks, his glasses reflect the game of solitaire from his computer screen and the sound of a virtual deck of cards shuffling deflecting his attention.
Martinez opened JC’s on South Sixth Avenue a few months ago. He doesn’t have numbers from last year to compare with this year, but he says business has been slow and he imagines everyone has felt the economic downslide.
Pam Beach, co-owner of Beach Furniture & Appliance on South Sixth Avenue, says their sales aren’t down, but that the number of customers not paying their bills has gone up.
Beach says they have in-house financing and she doesn’t have to depend on banks for customer credit, but the decrease in collections has caused them to have to downsize from 20 employees to seven.
Even South Tucson employees are feeling the slump in business.
“I organize boots all day,” says Erika Gonzalez an employee at Botas El Mudo on South Sixth Avenue, “or I clean or do something.”
Gonzalez says the shop can still get busy on the weekends, but during weekdays she’s seen a few days without a single customer walking in.
Walter Flores, an employee at Puff N’ Stuff Smoke Shop on South Sixth Avenue, says he works overtime on a flat rate as a favor to the owners because the economy is so bad.
He says the owners recently had to move the shop from its Fourth Avenue location because they needed cheaper rent.
Flores says he spends his days trying to give the best service to the few customers who do come in, and when no one’s in the shop he says, “I pretty much look for something to do.”
Some businesses are hopeful that the situation will get better as the weather cools and Tucson’s busy winter season nears.
Linda Baker, manager of Guillermo’s Double L Restaurant on South Fourth Avenue, says business slowed down during the summer, but with winter coming it’s starting to pick up again.
Frisby of Cazuelitas says their business has been a little better recently, which he attributes to cheaper gas prices.
He says it also helps the winter months are here because the restaurant pays less for utilities in the winter.
He has spent more money this year on publicity and is offering more specials than usual.
“We’re doing things we normally wouldn’t do,” he says, “trying to get people in the door.”
As South Tucson’s unemployment rate rises to more than 16 percent, one of the things business owners and employees agree on is that they have all seen more people coming in to apply for jobs but few are hiring.
Beach and Baker both said they have seen a lot of people come in their shops looking for work, but neither of them are hiring.
