It has been another tough year for many small businesses. One in four, according to the National Federation of Independent Business, believes the biggest problem is weak sales. Here are five businesses that hung on as long as they could, but had to close their doors in 2011.
"What we had, and what we did, we always thought of our people and our customers," says Kenneth Langone, Home Depot co-founder/Invemed Associates. Also, Arthur Blank, Home Depot co-founder/Atlanta Falcons owner and Bernie Marcus, Home Depot co-founder/Marcus Foundation chairman discuss building a business today according to the customer.
Bésame's vintage-inspired cosmetics are displayed on a vanity table in “The Artist,” a film that was recently voted this year’s best movie by the New York Film Critics Circle and by many accounts is on the fast-track to an Oscar nomination.
Forced to pay back loans shortly after graduation, many soon-to-be graduates say they would take any job they could find, even if was something far outside their field of study. This exercise will likely set them back for years, pushing their entrepreneurial desires to the back burner, if not off the table entirely.