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Mainers Know How to Weather Ups and Downs in a Slow Economy

March 25, 2009 - PORTLAND — New England entrepreneurs hope the first full day of spring heralds a turnaround from a long, cold winter, economically speaking.

At the New England Products Trade Show on Saturday, those business owners were looking to match buyers with their products – from candles and hand creams to wind chimes and items made of ground lobster shells.

Julie Kenary of Lavender Sea Spa said she had solid sales at three flower shows she attended in recent weeks and was hopeful the trade show would lead more stores to carry her line of hand and body scrubs made of sea salt and oils.

The pace of sales at the flower shows, she said, "was very encouraging, to say the least. I'm not picking up any discouragement or negativity on the economy."

Kenary said the nature of New England, particularly northern New England, gives her hope. The region doesn't have many major heavy industries, like automaking, that have mass layoffs of 3,000 or 4,000 workers at once. And New Englanders, she said, have a history of withstanding tough times.

"The hardy New Englanders have been through a lot of ups and downs in the last 100 years, and we'll be all right," Kenary said.

The show, held at the Portland Sports Complex, a soccer field under a dome on Warren Avenue, started off a little slow Saturday morning. But by early afternoon, it had picked up to the point where the parking lot was full and new arrivals had to park across the street and hop a shuttle bus over to the site.

Linda King of Carville's Mugs Etc. hoped those buyers included past, loyal customers.

King makes blueberry-themed dinnerware and said the stores that carry her products visit her at the trade show to put in orders for the summer. She said she relies on upscale customers to come back for more, too.

The economy "really hasn't affected me," King said. "My product is a luxury item, and people are still able to afford it."

Other entrepreneurs are banking on continued interest in environmentally friendly products to spark sales despite the recession.

Tonya Wolfington of Colley Hill Soy Candle Co. said soy candles burn cleaner than the paraffin kind. Without the soot, the glass containers can be washed and re-used.

"Soy has really caught on," Wolfington said. "Everybody's going green."

By EDWARD D. MURPHY, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, March 22, 2009


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