HOWELL, Mich. - John and Lori Yochum decided early on that if their business tanked, they would sell their home in Livingston County's Hamburg Township before they would pull their son out of college.
The couple bought Wolverine Paint & Wallpaper in June, 2007, a little more than a year before the Wall Street meltdown that spurred a national recession.
Mr. Yochum previously owned a crane business near Detroit Metropolitan Airport that he started running in 1970 after graduating from high school. The property was condemned 10 years ago to allow the airport to install a drainage ditch for water runoff from runways.
He was paid enough to open a new building, but he decided to sell and invested the proceeds into the store.
Then came the recession, followed by the construction closure of the road on which the store sits.
Now that traffic is again permitted on the road, things are looking better. But it is still a struggle.Wolverine Paint opened 36 years ago, and the Yochums are the store's fourth owner.
The paint store was a welcome break from the crane business.
"It was definitely a lot more relaxed, a lot less pressure. The paint business, to me, is very enjoyable," Mr. Yochum, 57. said.
He returned to the crane company last year when the economy showed no immediate signs of resuscitation.
He works at Wolverine Paint only on Saturdays; the rest of the week, he is at the crane company.
His wife, Lori, 47, left the front-office job at Christian Montessori School of Ann Arbor that she had held for 12 years to buy the store.
"We never dreamt the economy would get as bad as it has. I thought I was at the bottom," she said. "We're not young people here. It's not like I'm 34 and can go out and recoup," she added.
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