Oregon Public Broadcasting

The city of Hood River is a popular spot for windsurfing and other outdoor activities.  Many local businesses depend on a steady stream of outdoor enthusiasts and tourists to stay afloat. 

OPB’s Pete Springer introduces us to two local business owners as part of our Hard Times series.

Melissa Tokstad: “Swimsuits are not the most fun things for women to shop for, believe it or not.”

Melissa Tokstad

Melissa Tokstad is the owner of Melika, a swim and active wear store for women.  She talks as she expertly marks and cuts swimsuit patterns on a table in the middle of the downtown Hood River store she’s owned since 2005. 

Melissa Tokstad: “I’m really selling a lifestyle as much as I’m selling a product.  The suits and the active wear that we make are made for women who either live here or who would like to live here or enjoy being here.”

A couple of blocks away is Nora’s Table.  Kathy Watson owns that restaurant and energetically moves around the kitchen making bread, answering the phone, and filling out paperwork. 

Both Hood River business owners have been taking steps to reduce their costs to survive the recession.

Kathy Watson “We watch our staffing costs mainly, which is why I find myself wearing a lot of different aprons and hats.”

The same goes for Watson’s chefs.  Two nights a week this past winter, they washed dishes to save on hiring a third person.

Kathy Watson “It about broke my heart to see my guys in there washing dishes but they did it with a good heart.”

Tokstad has taken similar measures with her womens active wear business.

Melissa Tokstad “I’m pretty bare bones right now.  I’m at the point now where I’m doing my own bookkeeping, I don’t have a bookkeeper anymore.  I’m pretty much doing all the production work myself, I used to have a production assistant.  I don’t have that anymore.”

Both women are also branching out to bring in extra revenue.  For Tokstad, this involved starting up a wholesale side to her active wear business.

Melissa Tokstad “Last fall was the first time I went out and actually tried to sell to other stores.  It was a horrible time.  The economy was falling down around our ears, and I’m a new brand.  Nobody has every heard of me before, you know it’s going to be really, really challenging to get in the door.”

But Tokstad persisted and partnered with a store in Portland to sell her designs on a consignment basis.  In exchange, she started selling their clothes at her store.

For Kathy Watson, keeping her business in the black means running Gorge Catering as well as her restaurant. 

Kathy Watson

Kathy Watson “I think the race will go to those who really work hard at being the best they can possibly be and come out at the end of this stronger companies.”

Both business owners have also turned to the web to market themselves.

Watson sends out emails that describe life in Hood River to customers.  Tokstad sells her designs on the web and is also working on a mailing list to save on advertising costs.

For both Hood River business owners, the changes and hard work are starting to pay off. 

Sales last month at Melika were slightly up compared to the previous year, says Tokstad.  She attributes it to loyal customers who are interested in locally made designs.

For restaurant owner Kathy Watson, the recession meant dropping less popular items from her menu and emphasizing fresh and local ingredients.

Kathy Watson “Here in February and March, we did a little bit better this year than we did last February and March.  Just a little.  You know, $30 a night better but it tells me that we’re headed in the right direction.”

And Watson says last month, her revenue was up almost 20-percent compared to April of last year.

But all these changes and staffing cuts come at a price.

For Watson, it means working every day of the week.  There are times she goes to bed  and it seems like her alarm clock goes off only seconds later.

Kathy Watson “And you can only do that for so long.  I’m 53 and this is a young persons business so some days I’m really tired.”

For Tokstad, it means there’s hardly any time to enjoy the outdoors, which is why she moved to Hood River in the first place.

Melissa Tokstad “I live here, the product is all about the lifestyle and I feel like I need to walk the walk, but I spend so much time at the store, I’ve sort of lost that.  You know, I probably haven’t sailed in two years now, and that was my life.”

Both women say the economic pressures on their businesses are not over yet.

They’re expecting things to pick up in the summer months, usually a good time for businesses in Hood River.