Inflation on minds of local business owners

ABOVE: Twelve Baskets employee Victoria Arcos goes through and adds clothes to the rack, as prices are slashed on all clothes in the store to combat inflation.

FAIRMONT – With inflation increasing prices and making purchases more difficult, local businesses are looking to keep prices low for local consumers.

Giddy Up Boutique owner Denise Rouse, who has owned the business for nearly 25 years, said part of the reason she chose to run this type of business is because of how it performs when the economy is suffering.

“When money becomes tight, when the economy slows, then people don’t have as much extra disposable money to spend,” Rouse said. “They come here because they can afford to buy things for their children and buy things for themselves when they’re on a budget because of a bad economy.”

As a business owner and shopper, Rouse said she has seen the effects of inflation firsthand.

“Our business is thriving,” she said. “When I go to the gas station, the grocery store, and other clothing stores, I noticed the prices [going up]. Not because they want to, but because they have to increase them.”

In her business, Rouse said she has not felt the need to raise her prices.

“Because it’s consignment,” she said. “They bring the clothes in, we sell it for them, and they get a percentage of it, meaning we can maintain that low price for them. We get such a volume of clothing in. Another reason we can keep it reasonable is we want to turn it. I want more volume. Mark them higher, and then they wouldn’t sell as fast. We want to sell things fast.”

Because of this philosophy, shops like Giddy Up have been relied on more as inflation increases. Rouse said she is thankful she can present that option during difficult times.

“It makes you want to work harder,” she said. “People are like ‘Don’t ever go out of business. We’re so glad you’re here. We wouldn’t know where to get our kids clothes if you didn’t have such a [wide] selection for us.’”

Since 2013, DeAnn Eversman has run DeAnn’s Floral and Designs. She has seen people not shop as much and put more thought into their choices when inflation has raised prices, and she has applied that knowledge to her business practices.

“Make sure things are affordable for people looking for the better deals,” Eversman said “Trying to find vendors that don’t cost that much to get prices low.”

Even at its worst, Eversman said her business has never been in jeopardy due to economic conditions. Currently, she feels like the economy is okay.

“People are watching their money, but when they need something they’re going to buy what they want,” Eversman said.

After raising seven kids, Twelve Baskets interim director Jennifer Hamlet knows how inflation can affect growing families and people in general. While studying trends and looking through their options, she decided clothes prices needed to be slashed to fight inflation.

“We recognized we had people who weren’t coming in as often because our prices were more than what they could do,” Hamlet said. “Being a partner in the community to say, ‘We know you have kids who need clothes. Guess what? We have kids’ clothes to put on their bodies.’ I have seven kids. They grow fast. You want to be able to outfit them well, but the economy’s hard.”

Hamlet said she has seen inflation affect people’s discretionary spending. In a small town like Fairmont, she said wages and inflation can cause a rough battle.

“Inflation has risen faster than wages,” Hamlet said. “Wages in this town are not going to be fantastic. The employers need to make money too. It’s not like they can say, ‘Ah, inflation is rising, so we should just keep paying our employees more and more and more.’”

Twelve Baskets is run by the Options Pregnancy Center, of which Hamlet is also the interim director. She said keeping prices affordable and inflation at bay ties into the Center’s mission.

“It means that we care for women, babies, kids, men,” Hamlet said. “Care for everybody at all stages of life in the community. I’m not saying that everybody should have everything that they want, but we should be able to provide people the things they need in a way that values their sanctity as human beings.”