Conventional wisdom leads us to pity the person who chooses to open a business in the midst of the current recession, but there are small retailers who thrive in a risky economic climate — traditionally bars, repair shops, education and other services where demand increases as general societal thrift grows.

Ballard has its own collection of businesses that have opened in recent months, well into the current economic downturn.

Sustainable, which sells furniture and home décor imported from southeast Asia, opened three weeks ago at 20th Avenue Northwest and Market Street.

Owner Wanna Keawnapaporn said she chose Ballard as the location for her new business because the neighborhood is both artsy and sustainability-focused.

Keawnapaporn, who is an interior designer, opened the store with the hope that the economy is improving.

She reasoned that when money is tight, customers will choose to buy pre-made furniture rather than design their own and a store like Sustainable would fare better than a custom-designed furniture business.

Business has been good in the past three weeks, and Keawnapaporn said she attributes this mainly to the holiday season. She has done better than expected, but said she believes business will slow a little after the New Year.

Sound Gold Buyers, located at 8008 15th Ave. N.W., purchases unwanted gold, silver, platinum and diamonds for cash.

The business opened a six weeks ago, and owner Ben Robbins said business is doing well.

Robbins said he opened in part because he knew people need money in the recession, and because gold is currently at record prices.

Though options for sending gold in the mail to establishments that reimburse with cash exist, Robbins said his store is more reliable because the customer interaction is in-person and the scale used to weigh precious metals is calibrated by the City of Seattle.

Robbins chose 15th Avenue as the store location because of its good visibility and proximity to I-5, but he said he has a good amount of customers from Ballard and personally loves the neighborhood.

In addition to being a good option for extra cash, Sound Gold Buyers considers themselves a sustainable business because everything they buy is recycled into jewelry, industrial and investment industries, preventing further unnecessary mining of precious metals.

MovieCycle, located at 2240 N.W. Market St., opened in September. The store buys, sells and trades used DVDs, VHS, blueray and video games.

The owner operates several video rental stores on the Eastside and tested the model in the other locations before opening a store devoted solely to secondhand merchandise.

Movie Cycle manager Jeremy Keyes said the rental business is slow for everyone, but they are doing well.

Keyes said MovieCycle considers itself to be a sustainable business and they advertise in the Seattle Weekly as part of the “green card program.”

He said he sees businesses like MovieCycle as the future of movie viewing, and predicted that people will increasingly choose to buy movies for about the same price that rentals cost.

MovieCycle is always looking to buy DVDs and VHS, and sellers receive about $1 to $2 per movie, sometimes little more for high-demand material. DVDs can cost as low as $2.99 and average $6.99.

Buffalo Exchange, which has operated stores around the nation since 1974, opened in Ballard six months ago.

Manager Geeta Sood said getting the name out was difficult at first, but business has been very good.

She said the company was not nervous about opening another store in the recession because they knew how the business operated and that it would thrive in an economic downturn.

The Ballard Buffalo Exchange is half the size of the store in the University District, and Sood said part of the location’s success is due to the fact that people who live in Ballard are loyal to the neighborhood.