I was a sophomore in high school when the 2008 financial crisis happened. As naïve teenagers, my friends and I were more concerned with the upcoming Homecoming Dance rather than the stock market crash.

My mother, Judy Kim, owns a small dress store in LA’s historic Java Market (so I guess you can say every girl in school was jealous of me). Fall is traditionally a hot season because of high school dances (i.e. Homecoming, Winter Formal), but profits suddenly declined after the crisis.

“After 2008, people just weren’t spending,” Judy says. Since beautiful dresses are a luxury, Judy’s small business has been effected largely by cyclical shifts in the economy.

“Most of our customers were blue collar folks. Even so, we had parents who came in every week for months to pay off a 500 dollar dress for their daughter’s Quinceañera. As the recession got worse, more and more customers would beg for a refund. Some people just stopped showing up and did not pick up their phones.”

Judy had to make changes in sales tactics in order to make up for the loss during the recession. First and most obvious, she cut prices. Instead of the normal 50% return, the store now had a mark-up of 30%. The store is now constantly having a sale, but customers are always haggling the price more than ever. Judy came up with the idea of selling all-inclusive packages to entice customers. For example, a Quinceañera set can include: customization of a dress, a headpiece, and a pair of gloves with the girl’s initials embroidered on it.

The store also reduced the amount of employees. One summer, Judy taught herself how to use a sewing machine, and started doing alternations on the dresses herself. She taught me how to use Excel so I could record sales and calculate the commission of each employee. During the past tough years, everyone in my family was expected to contribute.

One glaring factor that contributed to Judy’s decline in sales was that her specific target consumer demographic experienced the hardest hit during the recession: the Hispanic population. “In the Fashion District, Jewish people own many of the buildings, and Koreans work in wholesale. Many stores employ Hispanics, and majority of the shoppers in the area are also Hispanic.”As a first-generation Korean American, Judy is not completely fluent in English—in fact, she is more fluent in Spanish. Located in Downtown Los Angeles, Judy’s store caters to a high Hispanic consumer base, which explains why there are three main types of dresses at her store: wedding, prom, and Quinceañera.

The Hispanic population in Los Angeles is almost 5 million according to a 2012 report by the US Census Bureau. According to a 2010 congressional report released by the Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, Hispanics have been named as the group that has experienced the hardest hit during the recession. The report showed that the Hispanic unemployment rate was only slightly above the overall national unemployment rate in 2006, when my mother’s dress shop was enjoying considerable profits.

However, by 2009, the rate soared to 13.1%, around 3 percentage points higher than the national rate. The disproportionate impact on the Hispanic community is partly due to the housing bubble’s impact on the construction sector. Information from the report also suggest unauthorized immigrants may have experienced the most impact in employment.

The decrease of disposable income has caused customers to be incredibly price conscious. Judy’s biggest competition has been online retailers. Start-ups like “Rent the Runway” allow users to rent a dress for a much cheaper price. Since dresses are not exactly necessities, people who are looking to save money find renting a wedding or Quinceañera dress is an economically smarter alternative than buying one and never wearing it again. Many of the dress stores have closed down, but Judy does not plan on giving up anytime soon.

“In this business, it is all about standing out. We are constantly trying to find a way to offer our customers something they cannot find anywhere else, including the internet.”

One huge advantage Judy has had over the years was that her sister is a fashion designer. Another secret weapon of hers is that her brother also has a dress shop, not too far from her own. Having the support of her family has been her greatest asset. The Kim siblings actually had plans of starting a retail website. However, my mother still has one huge reservation.

“Social media scares me. One bad review can kill your whole business, and kids are mean these days!”