Despite a lower-than-expected growth rate for the economy, some East Lansing business owners said their fourth quarter finished strong.

Heather Frarey, owner of The Record Lounge, 111 Division St., said her business has been showing positive numbers since the end of last year.

“I had an awful October,” Frarey said. “After mid-November, business picked up amazingly, and it’s been great ever since.”

Economics professor Larry Martin said the reason some East Lansing businesses aren’t complaining about less business, even with the national GDP being lower, is because the government expects higher sales at the end of the year during the holiday season.

“(The economy) picks up at the end of the year. This year it didn’t pick up quite as much so we say that it fell,” Martin said. “We were hoping that the recovery would pick up steam, not go the other way.”

Frarey opened her business 5 years ago on the cusp of the recent economic recession, but Frarey said she’s confident about her business’ sales and the economy moving forward.

“Vinyl is making this big comeback,” she said. “I, myself, am seeing a pretty good spike in business.”

But marketing research senior Travis Walkowiak doesn’t share the same confidence in the economy as Frarey.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m confident about the economy in general, but I feel very confident that I’m going to have a job,” Walkowiak said.

Although Linda Dufelmeier, the co-owner of Mackerel Sky Gallery, 211 M.A.C. Ave., shared Frarey’s confidence in the economy. She said local construction is the biggest hindrance on her business.

“I’m concerned about the coming spring and summer when the city is redoing parts of Grand River (Avenue),” Dufelmeier said. “The construction on Albert (Avenue) really impacted us last summer.”

But Dufelmeier said she is hopeful the coming months will bring more sales because of the opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, and she said she had a strong fourth quarter.