signs of the times where you live

[XOXO]

It hasn't hit too hard here yet. But we get a lot of people calling to see if we are hiring. I wish we were! I know some of them and they would be really good applicants.

So far our little community is hanging in there. Some layoffs but nothing like we feared.

Houses are not selling here either. A couple of small new business' have shut the doors.

Gina

[cptnkirk]

Well in my neck of the woods were heavy manufacturing so you know thats not good right now. My place is closing heading to Mexico been here 50+ years over a thousand jobs. Another place down the road same thing. Honda a HUGE employer is down to three days a week with rumors they are going to shut down for a month. All the supplier shops are laying off. I'm sure all the trickle down is starting to be felt in other local buisnesses. Hang on tight the tsnami is coming and it ain't going to be fun

[Boston Mike]

New construction homes and townhouses sit empty and have been for sometime now. Inventory of pre-owned homes is very large.

I feel the pinch at work. There are times I sit in my office with absolutely nothing to do. I don't know how they do it, but they said hang in there. We need to keep the key people. I tell myself and prepare for it that it is only a matter of time.

YET! The economy is so bad that the resturants are packed with long waits, and the mall was jammed the other day. (Already shopping for new flip flops for May)

[Wakey]

Dang Mike, you have me wondering if my neighborhood restaurant is slow because it sucks and I didnt realize it

I have no idea how retail is doing but existing home sales experienced an up tick, however there is a large supply of new homes sitting along with fully developed tracts ready to be built on.

We also have many brand new retail centers without tenants.

[sailorgirl]

Hubby is a teacher (career changer with 5 years in) and there is talk of laying off 15,000 teachers.We had hoped that the Obama bail out would include enough education funds to save most of the jobs, but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen now. He has only one colleauge in his department junior to him but several who are elligible for retirement and hopefully there will be some buy outs to induce them to retire now. He has tenure but that means little in these circumstances.

I'm in what has always been thought of as a "recession proof" industry, but we will just have to see. Some concern that the scholarships hubby's daughters enjoy might be cut, we have one year left with the older but three with the younger.

[stjdeb]

We have empty, new developments and the houses on the market are selling at 30% less than 2 years ago. New retail developments with stores empty and more closings. My company typically lays off our field guys for a good 8 - 10 weeks beginning at Christmas, however we have yet to procure a contract for 2009 and the layoff could last quite a bit longer than normal. I've had my hours cut to a 4 day week, but may be laid off as well for a few months (hopefully). We could not buy a new CAT dozer this year or last for that matter, and we are a small contractor. Lost quite a bit of our retirement funds in the last year, approx 40%. The city is asking all employees to take a 9% cut in pay, so they can try to avoid layoffs. I suspect it will get worse this year, but I'm hopeful 2010 will turn us around a little bit and start an upswing. Just hope we can all hang in and ride it out. It seems strange to take a vacation with all of this going on, but trip was pretty much booked and paid for by June of last year, so we either go or lose the money. We'll just be a little more frugel while on island than normal, does it matter? Hell no, it may be the last vacation we have for a year or two, so we will savor every last minute! Besides we spend our days at the beach which is free, the beauty of St John is enough to entertain us.

[Connie]

My daughter worked for 8 years for Apple Vacations. Lots of layoffs at Corporate including her. She's now working as a waitress at a local pub/bar.

Husband was working with a general contractor. He's been out of work for close to 2 months. Even the lumber yard is calling contractors trying to see if anything is in the works.

I'm in Real Estate. It's absolutely dead right now.

Hopefully things will turn around for everybody in the near future!

Good luck all.

[XOXO]

Well in my neck of the woods were heavy manufacturing so you know thats not good right now. My place is closing heading to Mexico been here 50+ years over a thousand jobs. Another place down the road same thing. Honda a HUGE employer is down to three days a week with rumors they are going to shut down for a month. All the supplier shops are laying off. I'm sure all the trickle down is starting to be felt in other local buisnesses. Hang on tight the tsnami is coming and it ain't going to be fun

I think this scares me the most. I have been really worried and hoped that I was over-reacting. But after reading your posts I am probably under reacting.

Connie: I am sorry about your daughters job.

Edited to add: have a great vacation in St. John!!! If there is any place on earth that feeds the soul it is St. John.

Gina

[Berlingirl]

Guess the same as alot of other places...Circuit City and Office Depot going out of business. Old Navy rumored to be next on the block here. (Managers jumping ship and putting out job apps like crazy here.) Those are just be big box national businesses here. Sadly, another BIG BOX Super Walmart is going up next to lots of empty big boxes. (Sure to drive some more small local companies out of business) Local firm that employed over 150 in auto parts manufacturing closing in a few months. The only other car business has only one shift now and cut their work week to four days. The two remaining mills in the area still in business have cut down machines and are on skelton maintenance crews. The local medical center is laying off and they are the largest employer here. The university system has furloughed 1000 statewide. You can't drive a few blocks without passing houses that are being foreclosed on. On a bright note, I have seen a few sale pending signs on some real estate latey so there are still some people buying/selling. Luckily, DH still working his rear off 24/7 as a small business owner manager...and hoping to make it through the winter. I'm only part time employed now and feel like we are the lucky ones at this point. If we hadn't planned our trip to Stj almost a year ago we wouldn't be going this April. Now, we've shelled out too much money to lose. Can't afford to go and can't afford not to go. I'm sick to my stomach when I hear about the wall streeters and bankers bailout and their bonuses when the rest of us get to pay for it. I just shake my head...guess the same thing that a lot of us are doing. Can only hope it gets better without getting worse.

[Lex]

In Massachusetts the SPCA will be closing down two animal shelters in the state. The state itself is in trouble and the cuts will get deeper. Some of the neediest people have already been significantly affected with more cuts coming.

[loria]

In Massachusetts the SPCA will be closing down two animal shelters in the state. The state itself is in trouble and the cuts will get deeper. Some of the neediest people have already been significantly affected with more cuts coming.

hmmm, Massachusetts appears to have been in trouble for some time--I had a contract to complete a health investigation up there and that got cancelled in June--I feel badly for the folks who were waiting for the results and hoping that maybe the health department managed to take care of it 'in house'.
4 more businesses are going under in our town-but several properties have managed to change hands (though many are on the market and price reductions abound)

[XOXO]

The local medical center is laying off and they are the largest employer here.

BerlinGirl: I thought the medical industry was one of the safest in the economy.

So scary and so sad.

Gina

[Ksea]

I met a friend for breakfast at IHOP yesterday. It was packed. Then we went over to the outlet mall and the parking lot was jammed! Our first stop was the Coach store and ladies were buying 3 or 4 handbags costing $200 and up. All the other stores we went to were busy with lookers, but not a lot of buyers. It was a beautiful day with warm temps so I think a lot of people just wanted to get out of the house. We stopped at the local watering hole for a snack and a drink and it was not as crowded as usual.
There are foreclosures on every street. Circuit City, Shoppers Food Warehouse and a furniture store are closing their doors. I meet people every week who have lost their job. I don't have a lot of hope for 2009 at this point.

[promoguy]

Berlingirl-Office Depot isn't going out of business. They're closing down their underperforming stores.

Many restaurants out here in Los Angeles are running 'deals' in order to keep folks coming in. IHOP and places like that where you can get a bit of value are doing well. Others not so well. Nice part about Los Angeles is that it is a bit diversified. But that alone doesn't help those that are struggling.

I'm in two chambers and businesses are dropping memberships that they've had for years. Business is hunkering down. People are hunkering down and that doesn't 'pay it forward' to other businesses.

[Eric in NJ]

I work for Unemployment and we are so busy we're working overtime 7 days a week including holidays. The average wait on the phones to file is probably close to an hour.