Irene Jericho is a sales associate at Esoterica, a store located in the 100 block of South King Street in Leesburg, an area that is being hit especially hard by the slowing economy. View photo »

An old photo that hangs on the wall of Mike Carroll's Leesburg Vintner store. He put the first "Staying in Business Sale" sign up in 1993 and had a similar sign in his window these past few weeks. View photo »

Mike Carroll, owner of Leesburg Vintner, holds up a sign that had been hanging in his store's window for weeks. At the bottom of the sign it says, "Part 2" -- a sign almost exactly like this one was in Carroll's shop's window in 1993, during another tough economic period. View photo »

Sale signs are visible in store windows all along South King Street in downtown Leesburg. View photo »

Mike Carroll, 29, owner of Leesburg Vintner on South King Street had a sign in his front window that read "Staying in Business Sale, Part 2." Carroll had a similar sign in his store window in 1993. "Just like in '93, I'm going to make it through these times," he said. View photo »