Idaho's economy is taking a beating. But the entrepreneurial spirit among some of its residents isn't.

In the months leading up to what may be the country's worst economic times since the Depression, many Treasure Valley residents forged ahead to open new businesses.

Some people saw a softer economy coming, though not the body slam it is turning out to be. Yet they are determined to succeed.

Idaho Statesman business reporter Bill Roberts talked with owners of a new fitness center, music store and furniture store. All say they are ready to take their chances with a small business in this delicate climate. All have stayed away from borrowing money from lending institutions. All are willing to take the risks for the chance at rewards - to stay in the Treasure Valley, to help people, to make a little money.

"I've fallen on my face many times in different situations," said Karen Kimura, part owner of A2O Fitness in Boise. "I'm willing to fall on my face."

Meet some new Treasure Valley business owners on MAIN 6-7

DREAMWOOD FURNITURE

Owner: Matt Menard * Location: 407 E. Fairview Ave., Meridian

Matt Menard has trimmed advertising and his stock in order to keep open the store he has put his 'heart and soul (into).'

Matt Menard put five years of his life into co-owning a store that specialized in solid wood furnishings.

In May, he and a partner parted ways, and Menard had a choice: Go find a job somewhere else, or "fight the fight and stay with what I've known for the last five years and what I've put my heart and soul (into)."

Dreamwood Furniture was his answer. The renamed, retooled store with solid-wood furniture opened in July in the same Meridian location as the previous store, Treasurewood Furniture.

"If I fail here, I did it knowing that I tried my best," he said. "But at least I wasn't working for somebody else and having that decision made for me by somebody else."

Menard, 40, of Meridian, once had a career in tech hardware sales in the Treasure Valley and elsewhere. He has developed an appreciation for the furniture he has sold. Dreamwood doesn't offer what he calls "sawdust and glue" furniture. It's solid wood. And Menard has an employee who can stain or paint it just the way customers want. It's his only full-time employee.

His store is a collection of wood pieces - headboards, end tables, dining tables, bookshelves and dressers. Many are finished. Others are bare wood, awaiting the customer's choice for finishing.

When Menard recapitalized the business in June, he bought about $50,000 in inventory with the help of private investors. He reopened in July, knowing the economy was soft. New homes haven't been selling well this year, so fewer customers seek furniture to fill up their places.

Then September hit. The stock market fell. Credit tightened. So did people's wallets.

"It was a decision that I made thinking that times are going to get better," he said. "And they didn't. So you have ... to keep on going, try to minimize your overhead, try to be smart with our money."

He has trimmed advertising. He doesn't stock the showroom heavily with furniture that might not sell. He often waits for customers to buy before he orders.

Everybody wants to make money, he said. But at this point, it's not about getting rich - it's about keeping the doors open until times get better.

"Survival obviously means we have to do the right things to stay here," he said.

His business, he said, is about more than the bottom line.

"It's all about just being part of the community (and) how we can help families," he said.

Coming to work, even in this slow time, is better than other options he could face. "I don't want to sit at a desk and look at a computer screen all day," Menard said.

THE MUSIC SHOPPE

Owner: Mark Bunn * Location: 619 12th Ave. Road, Nampa

Worried about being unable to repay loans, Mark Bunn is hoping to 'gradually grow' his business without borrowing money.

As a student at Vallivue High School, Mark Bunn played trumpet in the marching and jazz bands.

Now, nearly 30 years later, he's in the music business.

Bunn, 47, opened The Music Shoppe in Nampa in August, eight months after being laid off from a 21-year career at Micron Technology Inc.

He opened the store only a short drive from the city's three high schools, hoping to build trade with families looking for instruments and books for students in music classes.

Bunn began as a technician at Micron and rose to an electrical engineer. But when the 2007 layoffs came, he knew he might lose his job, he said. He might have stayed with the company if he were willing to move. But the Treasure Valley is home, and he didn't want to leave.

"I decided I would stay here and see if I could continue to make a living," he said. "Moving out of state will be a last resort."

After getting laid off, he looked into buying a business such as appliance repair. "I just finally concluded it's so expensive to buy," he said.

Bunn turned his interest in music into a store that sells music supplies, guitars, amps and drums.

He's also taking used instruments on consignment, to save him having to spend a lot of money initially on inventory - especially for more expensive instruments such as horns.

He knew the economy was soft when he started the music shop.

But he was surprised at its steep decline in September.

He's not sure what he would have done if he'd known the economy was going to tank.

"I may still have done it, because I didn't have a whole lot of other things," he said. In September, business was slow. But he's starting to see an increase in customers.

Bunn steered away from borrowing to start his business, even though it means he is starting small. He used about $45,000 of his own money for building repairs and to purchase inventory.

His plan: "gradually grow and at the same time not starve to death. I don't feel good about trying to go borrow and then have a problem with paying it back."

A20 FITNESS

Owners: Karin Kimura and Alissa RossmanLocation: 511 Americana Blvd., Boise

Two sisters got help starting their business and found a way to help people afford to be fit.

For a dozen years, Karin Kimura was a trainer in someone else's gym. She even decided to open a business offering individual training at her home in order to have the freedom to do training the way she thought best. One day, a client suggested she open her own workout center where clients and trainers could get together for individualized fitness programs.

An idea was born.

Kimura teamed up with her sister Alissa Rossman - who had experience in fitness equipment sales and bookkeeping - and the two opened A2O in Boise on Oct. 12, not far from Ann Morrison Park.

Just as the economy started going south.

"I decided that is something I wanted to do," Kimura said.

For $45 to $90 an hour, clients come to A2O - which stands for Alpha to Omega (Greek for A to Z) - and get one-on-one workout programs with their own trainers.

Most of A2O's six trainers are independent contractors who use the workout center and pay Rossman and Kimura a percentage of their fees.

Kimura and Rossman hit a couple of lucky breaks opening their business. A supporter who saw their vision paid for remodeling an old mechanic shop on Americana Boulevard and now leases the building to them. Because the sisters used their own money to open the business, they didn't have to persuade a bank to lend them money.

They were able to purchase workout equipment that would have cost about $60,000 retail, Rossman said.

Since Rossman and Kimura took the plunge, they haven't looked back. Their grand-opening event was Friday. Business has been steadily picking up, mostly by word of mouth from other clients.

The sisters believe that people who consider their physical fitness important will make room in their tightening budgets to pay for the help they want.

"If there is something I want, I will figure out how I am going to get it," Kimura said. "The people who are here value it so much we are willing to work with them to figure out how we can keep them here."

One way: Rossman and Kimura expanded the number of group classes - which cost only $10 to $20 an hour - to help people make room in their budgets to work with a trainer.

Timing for A2O's opening may have collided with a slumping economy, but Kimura is guided by one thought: "Risk big, gain big," she said.