HARRISON, Ark. -- My Friend's Closet is one of those stores for which a bad economy means good business.

"More people were actually coming in because they didn't want to pay the bigger prices at the mall," said Thia Harp, who works at My Friend's Closet.

The ice storm in January storm froze up buyers and profits, closing down the store for a week.

"They (customers) had unexpected expenses. They had to buy generators, they had damage to their homes," said Harp. "They also didn't go to work. That put them a week behind in everything. So we just didn't see a lot of business."

Big purchases meant people in Harrison could forget about little ones. The focus was solely on cleanup.

"For months it was dead down here," said Harp. "They just didn't get out. And, if you did have a pretty day, that's where they were at. If they had the chance, they were in their yards cleaning up all that debris."

Some are still cleaning but that's given people in the area an idea: create more jobs through preparation.

"We're trying to work with those communities to alleviate those problems so they won't occur again, should they have flooding or a federal disaster," said Mike Norton, director of Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District.

In the meantime, Harrison will work to shake off what's left of winter's chill.

"It's just slowly but surely starting to pick back up," said Harp.