KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsDespite recession business is 'popping' for Sioux City company

Despite recession business is 'popping' for Sioux City company

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) - Nowadays it seems many people are affected by the ailing economy.

Whether it's a teacher dealing with state budget cuts, or a factory having to lay off workers because of a lack of business.

But, there are places doing well in these tough times and some are even thriving.

A fourth generation business American Popcorn, the makers of Jolly Time has survived the Great Depression and several more recessions after that.

"We've kind of been through the tough time at least in the popcorn business," said Garry Smith the President of American Popcorn.

But one thing that always pops up in a down economy is popcorn.

"The entire microwave popcorn category and home consumption of popcorn is up and it's up because people are staying home and they're entertaining themselves at home and when they do, they do entertain themselves with popcorn," said Smith.

Smith says sales have gone up 10-percent overall from this time last year.  And since their "Healthy Pop" was recently endorsed by Weight Watchers, sales of that kind of popcorn have jumped by 40-percent.

"Weight Watcher consumers are very loyal consumers so we're really excited about this and we've seen healthy pop sales go up dramatically the last two months," said Smith.

But folks aren't just eating popcorn, they're also staying home to eat all sorts of food, business at Laurence's grocery store, it's gone up nearly 20-percent just in the last few months.

"The economy has been tough, people are eating more at home, everything has really picked up so it's been good in tough times," said D'Anna Schmidt, Co-owner of Laurence's Market.

And, it wasn't always easy for the 40-year old mom and pop shop to keep their heads above water.  Just a few years ago, owners had to cut the store in half.

We decided to downsize because we knew we couldn't compete with the big guy down the street," said Schmidt.

But now with their nitch of selling reasonably-priced meat business is booming.

"We're really proud of our little store on the corner here we really are," said Schmidt.

Another business is also doing well in a bad economy the business of can redemption.

This Sioux City redemption center, on Floyd Boulevard, is used to "down time" in the winter.

But this season, they say, business is double what it normally is.

Last year, this redemption center might process six to seven-thousand cans a week.

Now it's up to almost 14-thousand.

"This is what I call my vacation time of year and it hasn't slowed down a bit," said Richard Certain with Laurence's Can Redemption Center.

"Why do you think that is?" asked News Channel Four's Melissa Lanzourakis.

"The economy for one.  People are starting to notice a nickel here a nickel there," said Certain.

Certain says on average, people walk out of the redemption center with anywhere from five to fifty-dollars in hand.

He also says this could have a positive impact on the environment.

Folks are bringing more cans in for those deposits and more of you are also buying "used."

Officials at Goodwill Industries say their merchandise is good quality and affordable.

That's encouraging more people to buy when times are tough.

Sonny Kellen, with Goodwill, says they put new inventory on the shelves daily and, more people are taking notice.

Instead of buying new shoes for kids who are going to grow out of them in a few months parents, he says, are turning to buying "used" instead to save some green.

Online Reporter: Melissa Lanzourakis