Laura Reynolds of Reynolds Shoe Repair in Hendersonville says business is booming. photo by Brent FleuryAt least a few businesses do get a boost in a recession. Like Reynolds Shoe Repair in Downtown Hendersonville. Alan Reynolds is a third-generation shop owner with his wife, Laura Reynolds, and to be fair, they’ve always been busy. Last year customers could easily wait three weeks to have a pair of shoes resoled. But as the recession has deepened in 2009, the Reynolds, who work in a small, bustling shop that smells strongly of shoe polish and dye, have seen a marked uptick in business. “People are pulling out shoes they haven’t worn for years,” Laura says. Now, with more people tightening their purse strings and hauling old shoes in for mending, the wait is at least six weeks for a resoling job. Laura, who has been at the shop full time for six and a half years, says she’s never seen it so swamped. In addition to shoe repair, she’s taken on other kinds of repairs, stitching up coats, purses and belts. While a small sewing job costs only $4 and may only take an hour or two to complete, she has been snowed under with such jobs in the last six months, meaning customers might not get finished items back for weeks.

While it couldn’t be a tougher time for the auto industry, with automakers in debt up to their roof racks and new car sales slumping in some cases by more than 40 percent, it’s an excellent time to be in the auto repair business. “You fix your brakes instead of buying a new car,” says Patricia Grimes, the longtime general manager of Harry’s on the Hill in Asheville, which sells Cadillacs, Pontiacs, GMCs and Buicks. New car sales are down, but her service business has held steady, especially among customers on fixed incomes who are waiting to see if the economy bounces back before they purchase a new vehicle.  “When things are tough, people tend to take better care of vehicles they think they’re going to keep for a while.”  —M.K

Tonia Sheppard of Alan’s Pawn in Asheville. photo by Scott LessingPawn in the Game

Who knows more than pawnbrokers about coping with hard times? It seems like the quintessential “ill wind” business. But do economic woes automatically translate into prosperity for the pawnshop business? To find out, we asked a pair of prominent pawnbrokers to pontificate on what happens to their industry in a treacherous economy.

Business saw a definite upswing with last year’s gold rush. In March 2008, the price of gold nudged passed the $1,000-an-ounce mark, and Tonia Sheppard, co-owner, with her husband Alan, of Alan’s Jewelry and Pawn in Asheville, says she had to hire extra workers to handle the crowd of people toting in their old gold jewelry to cash it in.

Since then, business at both Alan’s locations—one on Tunnel Road and the other on Patton Avenue—has been hopping. Traffic at pawnshops tends to increase in economic downturns as more people rummage through their attics looking for things to trade in for short-term loans or sell outright. But that doesn’t necessarily mean owners like Alan and Tonia are raking in the dough. Tonia says their shops are making between 50 and 60 percent more loans and buys now compared to this time last year. However, sales of pawned merchandise—everything from golf clubs to steam cookers to chain saws and laser printers—aren’t up dramatically. “All the money goes one way,” she says, meaning customers now are more often looking for loans or cash than, say, a lightly used leather jacket. “All the money is out on the street.”

According to Alison James, who, with her husband Phillip, runs Hendersonville’s Pawn Outlet, the pawn business itself is changing. She and her husband bought the shop, practically a Hendersonville landmark, back in May of 2008. But just in that short time they’ve seen a change in typical customers. More Cadillacs and BMWs show up in their parking lot and an increasing number of doctors, lawyers and other professionals are beginning to use their services.

The couple was involved in the stock market and insurance before getting into the pawnbroker industry. This, James says, gives them a somewhat different attitude. “We run the business more like a bank. We greet people and make them feel comfortable. We try to give them some dignity at the very least. Everybody is hurting. We try to be nimble with the