Dividend spending begins

With an additional $1,107.56 added into bank accounts and pocketbooks across the state, Valley business owners say that customers with dividends in hand are coming out of the woodwork.

"We've been selling a lot of snowboard coats and pants," said The Source owner Lucy Orr. "We were extremely busy [Wednesday], we expect Saturday and Sunday to be really busy."

Matanuska Music owner Ana Hartman also felt the influx of the extra cash in her store.

"Yesterday we sold six guitars, and one person put a down payment down on a baby grand piano," Hartman said. "Young and old are coming in and spending $300 to $400, depending on how many accessories they want."

Some businesses have yet to see many large purchases. Image Audio manager Haskell Kent said that while the store did sell one $1,600 television set, it seems that for audio big-ticket items, people are shopping around a bit longer.

"We've had a steady flow of people buying smaller range stuff, but it's not like three years ago when they bought big-ticket items right away," said Kent.

Last year, it took about a week after dividends came out before Image Audio saw a big group of customers.

"We haven't gotten slammed yet, probably this weekend," Kent said. "The last few years it seems like more of a controlled spending as opposed to going out and blowing a bunch of cash."

Still other businesses saw the heightened spending even before the dividends arrived on Wednesday.

"We normally see [the increased spending] start a week before with credit cards," said Wasilla Bar promotions director Jessie Gunn. "Last night was a good ladies' night."

Gunn says that it's the regular crowd coming in, they are just coming in a little more frequently, and taking cabs homes, she added.

"We don't have a higher head count, people are spending more and staying longer," she said. "Business is good."