''More guests have been bringing back leftovers from the restaurants,'' said Jane Lowe, owner of the inn. ``Instead of going out for dinner and lunch the next day, they'll eat those leftovers for lunch. We see a lot of people cutting corners.''
Most of the 312 businesses and 39 kiosks now operating on Duval Street are feeling the pinch of the penny-pinching vacationers. Some are struggling to survive in what normally would be considered high season.
''It's slow on Duval Street, but it's slow all over the country,'' said Virginia Panico, executive vice president of the Key West Chamber of Commerce. ``There are times when we don't feel it, or are the last to feel it. But we are in the midst of a slowdown.''
It seems difficult to believe times are tough for Duval merchants by simply looking at the city's main tourist drag, which stretches 1.2 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. Since Christmas, there have been crowds of people on its sidewalks day and night.
''But do you see any of them carrying bags?'' asked Tony Gregory, owner of Art Attack, an eclectic jewelry and T-shirt shop that has been at the same Duval Street location for 26 years. ``Business on Duval isn't what it used to be.''
Just ask Barbara Coon, the 72-year-old in a cowboy hat who works sales and marketing for Crabby Dick's restaurant and the Rhumba Key West Tropical Bar. She said the restaurant used to do $20,000 in business during lunchtime just a few years ago. Now, she said the place is lucky to get $2,000 in business for the midday meal.