And the survey says ...

The proof is in the profits

One trend in the past year that many hope is a sign of a continuing economic reversal was in the area of rapidly declining profit margins. In the three years previous to 2002, 46 percent of the shops saw a decline in profit margins, 38 were holding steady and only 17 reported an increase. This year however, profit margins have grown amongst 41 percent of respondents and only 27 percent reported a decline.