Store sees hope in return of Elvis

Rob Baker, manager of the Doo Wop Shop in Louisville, said Elvis impersonators were absent from the store for about a year until last week, when one came in to buy a wireless microphone and another stopped in later to rent portable show lights, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reported Monday.

"Elvis is a dipstick, of sorts, for our economy," Baker said. "The party business is coming back. People are not thinking twice about having an event. They are feeling a bit more relaxed."

Uric Dufrene, an economist at Indiana University Southeast, said Baker might be onto something by using Elvis as an economic indicator.

"The increase in Elvis-related consumption items suggests that discretionary spending might be on the upswing," Dufrene said.

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