For small business owners in Glenside in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia, rising prices have become a common gripe.
“It’s really affecting my bottom line,” says Alisa Kleckner, who sells masks and costumes, primarily using leather, for theatre productions. “The cost of raw goods has gone up, the cost of transportation has gone up, and also the entertainment industry is suffering,” she says.
Joe Sparacio, who runs the Crate and Press Juice Bar, is worried about the possible hit to come. “The cost of all our produce went up,” he says, “strawberries, blackberries, almond milk. Chicken went up threefold. For now it’s not a problem because the customers are paying more, but if that stops then it’ll be a big problem.”
The inflationary spike running through the country has injected a lot of uncertainty into the local economy, admits Napoleon Nelson, a Democratic state representative in what is one of…
