HONOR -- The coolers inside John Rosa's liquor store and pizzeria are half empty.
It's too expensive to restock. They weren't selling much, anyway.
Outside, gas pumps are shut off, and stand as weathered remnants of a bygone era. For decades, Rosa's family made a living selling gas and repairing cars. That was then.
"We're just trying to do whatever we can do to survive," said Rosa, the third generation to operate Bud's In Honor, a humble shop that offers everything from car repairs and towing to canoe rentals, pizza and beer.
"If one thing don't work, do something else," he said. "Right now it's survival of the fittest."
Michigan's miserable economy is taking its toll on Bud's and other businesses in Honor, a village of a few hundred residents on U.S. 31 along the Platte River in Benzie County.
Bud's small independent gas station went under about a year ago after getting "squeezed by the big guys," Rosa said.
He and his family opened a pizzeria after the gas station closed, but that's struggling with the rising cost of flour.
Fewer tourists stop by for a pie, and locals aren't spending as much, either.
"When the economy is as bad as it is, and they keep raising all the prices on everything but wages, how can anybody justify doing anything out of the (ordinary) for a family, like ordering a pizza?" he said. "How can you justify that extra $20 bill, when that extra $20 bill is going to the gas tank, taking you back and forth to work every week, or going to the gas company for winter's gas bill nobody can pay in the spring?"
Rosa feels the pain of skyrocketing fuel prices in the towing business.
He hasn't raised his rates for fear that customers would leave for a larger business that could afford to offer lower prices.
"It's kind of hard to call for a tow truck when your car is broken down on the side of the road, when you know that's going to take food off the table, or turn the lights off, or take away from your normal lifestyle," he said.
Rosa's grandfather, Bud, built the shop in 1956. Rosa's parents purchased it in 1981, and Rosa and his wife took over operations in August.
It was a million-dollar business when Rosa moved to Honor in the 1980s. "When I was 16 years old, we had 50 canoes. Now we're down to 20," he said. "We used to have six tow trucks; I'm down to two."
For now, Rosa said he'll "hold on and pray for the best." He still maintains a positive attitude despite the tough times.
"It could be a whole hell of a lot worse than it is right now, but we're still open, the lights are still on," he said. "It's going to take more than the economy to drop me."
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