The downtown construction planned for March coupled with our new economy has businesses downtown Sioux Falls wondering what they can do to keep afloat.

When Buffaloberries opened up 10 months ago, the economy looked quite different. Nate West lives and work in D.C. His mom Karen Johnson opened up the business. Now she's asked him to come help recession proof her business. Nate says the last few months have brought some tough days.

Nate West says, "Just on a day when she was having a bad day and a really low sales day. I said to her 'Do you need me to pack up and come visit for a month?' and she said 'If you could that would be really great."

He owns his own small business in Washington D.C., but picked up to be here to help sort out new options to keep his mom's business alive.

But come March 16th, there will be an added issue when Phillips Avenue is torn up for construction. It's scary for every small business along Phillips and Nate says it makes recession proofing much more difficult.

Nate says, "You can't really weather the storm if the customers go away so it's an interesting balance."

A balance between understanding that some people have to cut back, while hoping they still chose your store to come in and spend. Nate says it's about being creative and honest, telling your customers they need to come back to keep you around, and not losing sight of your mission.

Nate says, "You keep pushing forward and make adjustments where you need to and so the best that you can to keep the doors open."