Bad Economy = Good wine for less money

Tampa, Florida - With the economy on everyone's mind, President Bush took his last trip overseas to Latin America where he met with the APEC Summit to figure out how to save sinking big businesses. Meanwhile, small businesses here are trying to do the very same thing.

"Those discussions are very important for the Fortune 500 companies but what we're talking about here today is the small and medium-sized businesses, the meat and the potatoes," said Derek Lloyd, President of the Caribbean-American Chamber of Commerce for Bay area. His chamber is one of dozens from around the world that attended the Retailers of the Americas Conference at the Tampa Convention Center this weekend.

This is the first year the United States hosted the networking conference. Organizers say they chose the Bay area because of our diverse small business opportunities here.

The idea of the conference is to help American businesses reach out to other small businesses around the world.

The Dollard Family thinks the conference is a great idea. They own the brand new wine bar Avenue Cellars in Westchase.

When they opened their doors for the first time, the economy took a nosedive. "You do have to bring your costs down as much as you can," said Gale Dollard.

That is tough for a small shop when you ship from overseas, like the dozens of wines at Avenue Cellars that come from around the world: Italy, France, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

It is even harder for small businesses to network with businesses in other countries.

"They don't have the budget and the resources right now to travel to South America and Central America and explore new opportunities and regions," said Lloyd.

That's why Lloyd is there to connect companies to one another. "You would be amazed how many American companies call us, asking us to help them reach out in new markets and regions. They've never had to do this in the past."

Now, businesses like Avenue Cellars have to reach out to other countries as long as it means cutting costs without tainting the taste.

"Right now, Argentina is the best-selling because you can still get a really good wine for a lot less money," said Erin Dollard.

And wine lovers will drink to that!

Erica Pitzi, 10 Connects Reporter