KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Playfulness and the holidays are lifting spirits up. At a local store in Knoxville, pets are running and jumping around their owners and trainers from The Bark.
Sunday was a special day because the owner hosted an Indoor Holiday Market with local vendors.
“The Bark is kind of our expansion and all of our dreams coming true,” Hanna Harris, The Bark owner, said.
Growing up in Jefferson County, Harris said she didn’t have much family support and had to start her business from scratch.
“I just had my treat pouch in my car and I was going around people's houses, and I really built it from nothing,” Harris said.
Harris' fear for everything that was new when she started building her business was one of her biggest challenges. But when she started moving forward, she gained more and more strength and confidence to continue and to believe in herself.
“I put my entire life savings into this building and kind of risked it all to like, build this,” Harris said.
Many local business owners, like Harris, have no one to fall back to if a recession hits next year. This is how The Bark owner is preparing.
“I think we're just like really focusing on efficiency," Harris said. "And making sure that, like, the resources that we're spending money on, we actually need.”
Economist from the University of Tennessee and special advisor to the Chancellor Bill Fox said while there’s talk about a recession, it’s not here yet.
“But what's been different about this time period, relative to others, when we might imagine a recession is that consumers have a lot of money to spend,” Fox said.
This is because the economy in many dimensions stayed strong, according to Fox. He said recent labor data shows employers added more than 260,000 jobs in November than the month before.
“Nobody can, with certainty predict the future, but we do know that layoffs happen,” Fox said. "If the fed is able to reduce inflation rates, without dramatically increasing unemployment, then we will not have a recession."
Being prepared by having money available as needed is important. Fox said if you lose your job, be careful with your spending. Have yourself prepared with savings that can handle an economic crisis for three to six months.
As for local businesses, Harris said there’s another way to look at a recession.
“There's always opportunity there," Harris said. "You just have to be able to look outside of the box and see where it's at. It may not be what you're used to doing, but there's always opportunity out there.”