New York SBDC Research Network

There was a recent discussion on a listserv I monitor about what a florist might do who is suffering in the recession. One participant suggested "expanding their offerings beyond just flowers...some gifty/crafty stuff to compliment the flowers and get feet through the door and create incremental volume." Good idea, that. One of my favorite resources is looking at the Economic Census for the Product Lines documents. The one for Retail Trade (NAICS 44-45) can be found here . For NAICS code 45311, found on page 173, you'll see that of the 22,750 florists in 2002: 3719 sell candy, 1209 sell other food stuff or 4061 selling some sort of grocery item (some sell both) 9268 sell some sort of kitchenware 603 sell jewelry 364 sell books 4810 sell games and toys Again, these are 2002 numbers - the 2007 numbers don't exist yet - but it does provide some guidance for how an entity might diversify its line. There are similar product line reports for: NAICS 22: Utilities NAICS 42: W

The Census Bureau released three Economic Census reports last week: 2007 Economic Census: Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Industry Series 2007 Economic Census: Construction Industry Series 2007 Business Expenses for Wholesale and Retail Trades Unsurprising, I suppose. But Census has also recently released Reports on Residential Vacancies and Homeownership , which showed "National vacancy rates in the second quarter 2009 were 10.6 (+ 0.4) percent for rental housing and 2.5 (+ 0.1) percent for homeowner housing...The Census Bureau said the rental vacancy rate was higher than the second quarter 2008 rate (10.0 percent) and higher than the rate last quarter (10.1 percent). For homeowner vacancies, the current rate was lower than the second quarter 2008 rate (2.8 percent) and lower than the rate last quarter (2.7 percent). The homeownership rate at 67.4 (+ 0.5) percent for the current quarter was lower than the second quarter 2008 rate (68.1 percent), but not statistically different

Here's an unsurprising bit of info from the U.S. Census Bureau Used merchandise stores employed more than 131,000 people with $2.1 billion in annual payroll and nearly $9.3 billion in sales in 2007, according to new economic census data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. As part of the 2007 Economic Census Industry Series, these new figures for the retail trade sector provide data on the number of establishments, sales, payroll, number of employees, value of product line sales and other data items at the national level by industry. Other findings include: * Women’s, juniors’ and misses’ clothing product line sales accounted for more than 15 percent ($1.4 billion) of total used merchandise store sales. Sales of antiques made up almost 13 percent ($1.2 billion) of the total sales of the 17,779 used merchandise stores in the United States. * Total sales from used merchandise stores increased $1.5 billion (nearly 20 percent) since 2002, while the number of used mer

Here are a few sources of data about the non-profit: One primary source is the Economic Census. For 2002, it can be accessed either through a series of PDFs or via American FactFinder . The EC identifies establishments that are "not subject to federal income tax" in several of the service sectors, specifically 54-Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; 61-Educational Services; 62-Health Care and Social Assistance; 71-Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; and 81-Other Services (except Public Administration). These reports show the receipts for these establishments at the state, MSA and county level. There is even some place data, but the smaller the geography, the more likely it will be suppressed in order not to reveal confidential information. Also, public schools, colleges and universities, governments, and churches are excluded from the Economic Census. The 2007 data won't be out until late in 2010 and will be available only via American FactFinder. The NYC N

The Economic Census forms will be sent out in December 2007 and are due back on February 12, 2008. Virtually all large and medium-sized businesses are surveyed. A large sampling of small businesses, covering all industries, will receive a form. This tally is done once every five years. The forms ask for basic information like business location, employment, payroll, and sales by type of product or service. Businesses that receive a form are required by law (Title 13, U.S. Code) to respond. The individual information is confidential, and Census will suppress any information that would identify a particular business, e.g., the sales information for the only jewelry store in town will not be published. Businesses, communities, and governments use Economic Census data for planning and market development. Statistics are published for more than a thousand industries as well as for states, counties, cities and metropolitan areas at business.census.gov. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bern