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With families looking to cut costs in a weak economy, sales at thrift stores are booming. Nonprofit organizations that rely on donations for merchandise call the surge in business a mixed blessing because donations have fallen. "When donations are down,

LABOUR COSTS CONTINUE TO WORRY SMALL BUSINESSES - Over 1,000 companies responded to the annual Small Firms Association business cost survey on the most negative factors impacting on their ability to thrive.

As the economy worsens, Chicago-area re-sale shops say they're doing a booming business. WBBM's Regine Schlesinger reports some of the customers are people who have never before set foot in a thrift shop.

As the national economy free falls, fueled by rising oil prices, the softening dollar and the burst bubble housing market, locals wonder about their jobs, their roofs and their futures. But the local picture may be rosier than the national vista.