However, he said, the credit market has really tightened up for commercial loans that businesses use for operational expenses. "Through our industry, that is definitely a factor," he said.

While the local store hasn't needed this kind of lending, Pirofsky said, in some areas of the country that have been hit hard by the crisis, things are very, very different. "We're constantly hearing how bad it is," he said.

Customer traffic at the store is not as robust as it could be, and Pirofsky says he believes it's because people have been scared by all the political turmoil and negative publicity. "There are some good things," he said. "There's not all bad."

For their part, area banks and credit unions in the North Country say they have always engaged in sound lending practices and things haven't changed that much here because of the economic crisis.

"The main thing, being a credit union, this has not affected us," said Linda Bourgeois, CEO of UFirst Federal Credit Union on Rugar Street. "We've always followed a fairly conservative lending policy set by our board of directors."

She said the amount of money available to loan hasn't changed, nor has the liquidity of the institution. Loan officers always carefully check employment history and debt-to-income ratios to be sure customers can afford their payments.

"I think, for the lenders not lending in a conservative manner, they are shifting back to the way they used to be," she said.

One thing has had an impact in a positive way. The legislation created by the Emergency Economic Stability Act passed recently by Congress and signed by the president temporarily raised the amount of insurance on savings by depositors from $100,000 to $250,000. The National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, the credit union equivalent of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., is covered by this just like the FDIC.

"That's good until Dec. 31 of 2009," said Bourgeois, who is president of the Adirondack Chapter of New York State Credit Unions.

"Our credit unions are business as usual," she said. "We're a safe harbor in this storm."

Nick Scors, CEO of Dannemora Federal Credit Union on Tom Miller Road, agreed.

"The credit crunch really hasn't affected us much," he said. "We were never involved in subprime mortgages. We weren't involved in those derivatives and we weren't invested in Lehman Brothers or the other big boys."

He said they are happy to meet with anyone looking to borrow. "We have a lot of liquidity and are putting out loans as usual," he said.

Representatives of local banks also say they are well capitalized and ready to make loans. They say their landing standards have been solid from the beginning, so they haven't had to change their practices much.

"There's been no change in our underwriting standards," said Tim Badger, senior vice president and director of marketing for Glens Falls National Bank, which does business in five upstate counties and has offices in Plattsburgh. "Nobody is immune to overall what happens in the U.S., but it's business as usual for us."