local businesses

Local gourmet cupcake shop prospering at the beach

By Hannah Bleau | gargoyle@flagler.edu

In the midst of a bleak economy, Americans have still turned to gourmet cupcakes as the new, affordable luxury item. Gourmet cupcake shops are prospering.

Small businesses have been struggling the past five years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 200,000 small businesses have gone under between 2008 and 2010. The same cannot be said for the cupcake industry. Market research center NPD found that approximately 669.4 million cupcakes were sold October 2010 to October 2011 – in the midst of the economic crisis.





Construction cripples merchants on West King

By Emily Hoover | ehoover@flagler.edu

Present Moment Café and Kulture Hookah Lounge feel the destructive effects of continued construction on West King Street.

“The construction was supposed to benefit the area,” said Yvette Schindler, owner of Present Moment Café, an organic eatery on the street.

“But, if it doesn’t hurry up, there will be no merchants left,” she said. “It should have been finished sooner. In another area, it would have been finished sooner.”