ESCAMBIA COUNTY - When money is tight, people often cut back on the so-called luxury items...Those items or services they can live without, at least for a little while.

Channel Three's Mollye Barrows shows us how that's affecting some local businesses.

Business at Fantastic Sam's in West Pensacola is slower than usual.

Hair stylists, like Vikki Lewis, say people are worried about spending money.

Vikki Lewis/Fantastic Sam's: "It's like people who got their haircut once a month come in about every six weeks, sometimes eight weeks."

The same goes for other hair services, as well.

Many people are only stopping by on their way home or if they're running other errands.

Lewis: "They're not going to waste their gas. They're not going to waste their money. If they don't have to have it done, they're not going to get it done."

From dry cleaning to shopping, people are cutting back to the bare essentials.

Nearby, the owner of "Diamond Nails" counts on regulars like Glenna Bazinet because walk-in business has fallen off.

Glenna Bazinet/Customer: "I do this as often as I once did, but I cut back in other areas in order to afford it. You just have to choose what's most important."

For Bazinet it's about balancing her budget and still having something special to enjoy, like having her nails done.

Advice Vikki Lewis hopes others will take, because she believes panicking about the economy will only make it worse.

Lewis: "You need to stay calm and go on with your business, maybe cut down on things, but live."

Economists say it's primarily the middle class luxury market that's feeling the pinch.

The market for high end luxury items is still going strong. Luxury Cutbacks