By Paul J. Condra
While [the recession] is on everybody's lips, it's basically on everybody's lips and that's it, said Harry Levitt, owner of Mur-Lee's men's clothing in Lynbrook.
This is the first year that Levitt's 55-year-old operation where he has worked for 30 years has occupied a space in the heart of Lynbrook's rejuvenated business district on Atlantic Avenue, off Sunrise Highway. The tailor said as far as his business is concerned, he has no complaints about the current economic recession a recession economists predicted early in the year that was underlined by the events of Sept. 11.
But while Levitt admits the current business environment has never been more challenging, his biggest complaint is not against anything the government can control.
It's the weather, he said. The clothing entrepreneur jokingly said he's had to pull out his floral print and short-sleeved shirts to attract business in this unusually warm December.
Indeed, for many local businesses the shaky economic climate seems to have reverberated more in the media than in the cash register.
We keep hearing these stories about how terrible things are. I don't think that has happened so much in Lynbrook, said Bill Gaylor, president of the Lynbrook Chamber of Commerce and owner of Lyn Collectibles and Lyn Gift Shop, both on Atlantic Avenue in Lynbrook. Gaylor said it's hard to feel the recession when the stock market continues to climb as if Sept. 11 never happened.
Then again, owning a gift shop is one of the few businesses that may actually benefit from a national crisis.
Gaylor said he is up in both card sales, and what he calls giftables small gifts over last year.
People want to communicate more, they want to get in touch, he said. We're selling things that are conducive to the sentiments of expression.
Where Gaylor is not doing so well, is in the upper end gifts, such as his LLadro figures from Spain. The porcelain dolls range from hundreds to thousands of dollars and aren't selling as well as they did last year.
Still, he said he's looking forward to a good strong holiday season, maybe not like last year, but strong enough.
It's the kind of optimism that has spread to other business owners who aren't necessarily expecting to break records, but see a solid holiday shopping season.
Paul Lanzetta, president of the newly formed East Rockaway Chamber of Commerce and owner of the music store on Main Street in East Rockaway, said while things are a little slow right now, he's still busy ordering stock for what he hopes will be a good holiday season.
Of course, if the merchandise market appears to be humming along comfortably, other areas of the economy still have not recovered from the shock of Sept. 11.
It's not good, said Myrna Nussbaum, owner of Victory Travel, at 5 Atlantic Ave. in Lynbrook.
Nussbaum, still recovering from eight weeks out of work when she had to relocate after her shop was ruined in a June fire at the Five Corners intersection, said people are still afraid to fly and choosing alternate means of transportation.
I was double dosed, Nussbaum said, alluding to the June fire, then the Sept. 11 attacks.
She said travel vouchers are traditionally a popular gift for Christmas. As of last week, she had sold none. For others in Nussbaum's situation, optimism is the only thing they have to hold on to.
Within six months, I'm confident it will pick up, she said.
