Entrepreneurs make it or break it in tough economy

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Barista Monica Skonieczny makes a coffee drink at Arcedium CoffeeHouse in downtown St. Charles Thursday morning. (Sandy Bressner – sbressner@kcchronicle.com)

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Dennis Walker had an inkling that the current economic climate was not the best in which to open a new coffee shop.

But Walker, who has operated the Arcedium Coffeehouse on First Street in St. Charles since January, didn't fully realize just how difficult the entrepreneurial environment had become until he attempted to find someone willing to finance the business dream he shared with his wife, Celeste.

"We tried on several occasions to get financing," said Walker. "But no one was about to loan anything to anyone trying to open a restaurant.

"It woke me up to realize the kinds of times we're living in."

And it is that knowledge that, 10 months since raiding his personal savings to open the Arcedium, makes the success of his coffeehouse that much sweeter.

Since opening, the shop has added new workers and now markets its custom coffee roasts to local supermarkets and wholesalers, while expanding its food offerings, as well.

"We just seem to keep growing, slowly and steadily, week by week," said Walker. "And we're becoming more and more confident that we are actually going to be around for a good long time."

The economic volatility that has wracked the local and national economy, however, has borne more mixed results for other businesses rolling out new initiatives in the last 12 months.

About a year ago, David and Judy Janis opened the Infusion Tea Shoppe on State Street in downtown Geneva. The shop was modeled after European tea shops, serving fine loose leaf teas and other hot beverages, with all the proper accompaniments.

But last weekend, the shop closed its doors for the last time on Halloween.

David Janis declined to discuss the fate of his shop, saying there was "nothing he really wanted to talk about" for publication.

But on the Infusion Web site, the Janises affixed the blame on the ongoing economic malaise.

"We thought that the concept of a tea shop in Geneva was an idea whose time had come," the Janises wrote. "Unfortunately, the economy decided to drop into a recession just as we opened our doors. We held on for a year, but now we must say good bye."

Throughout the region and the country, the time since the fall of 2008 has changed the nature of the entrepreneurial game, observers have said.

Harriet Parker, manager of the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Waubonsee Community College, said that a year since the financial markets plunged she still is receiving a steady stream of inquiries from people hoping to turn their business idea into the next success story.

"If anything, the numbers have actually increased since last year," Parker said.

But the number of those actually succeeding are becoming fewer, she noted, as lenders have remained tight with their money and the economic climate has remained daunting.

"Most of them don't even get started," Parker said. "There's just no financing out there.

"If any of my clients get a business off the ground, the vast majority of them are financing it out of their own pockets."

Anne Gugliuzza is among those few who, like Dennis and Celeste Walker at Arcedium, have not only launched a new business, but thrived in the current climate.

In April, Gugliuzza took her savings and opened the Batavia Academy of Dance.

In the months since, her student population has tripled to about 70 and continues to grow. To meet the demand, Gugliuzza has hired three additional dance instructors, bumping her roster of teachers to six.

"I can't believe sometimes how this has taken off," she said. "It's been a lot of hard work, but I love it."

While retail and service providers have struggled, so too have manufacturers.

Last year, Batavia-based TimePilot Corporation rolled out its new product, a new punch clock intended to help employers better track employee attendance and hours.

The device was marketed heavily to construction companies and others in the building trades, said Doug Marsh, who heads TimePilot.

"But it was clearly bad timing to launch any kind of product for the building trades," said Marsh. "That industry just tanked in the last year."

Instead, TimePilot had to find new markets for its products, and did, selling more of its smaller, lighter-duty products designed for office use than originally anticipated.

"The flip side of the down economy is that employers are looking for ways to improve efficiency and we offer that," Marsh said. "So, thanks to that, we have been able to outpace the economy a little bit and continue to grow."

Sometimes, survival can depend on simply finding the right kind of business model in the economy.

In St. Charles, John Buzbee thinks he works at just such a place. Since last November, he has managed the Dollar Store & More, an independent discount store owned by Henry Funk in the Valley Shopping Center on Route 64.

The store, he said, has consistently grown in the past year, Buzbee said, as more people find it and proclaim it to be "the nicest dollar store they've ever been in."

"The growth is small, but we're not going the other way," he said. "And these days, that's saying something."

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