We have some news from the world of small business thanks to the latest survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business. First off: uncertainty is creeping up, rising by three points since October. Despite that, optimism ticked up too, up a little less than a point. That actually remains above average.

At Latchkey, a record store in South Philly, sales are up 60% this year.

“That's no joke. We feel really good about that,” said store owner Marc Faletti.

That lines up with the latest survey of entrepreneurs like him.

“Small businesses are generally doing really well in current economic conditions,” said Holly Wade, executive director of the NFIB Research Center.

At the same time, Wade said, uncertainty is high. Hiring remains a concern and inflation is affecting small businesses too.

“Especially in this last survey where we saw far more small businesses saying that they raised prices in the last quarter,” Wade said.

Still, somehow, small business owners — like Marc Faletti — are optimistic.

“I'm probably 58% optimistic. Not quite. Maybe 60%, but more optimistic than pessimistic,” he said.

One potential explanation comes from John Arensmeyer, CEO of Small Business Majority: “If you're crazy enough to start and run a small business, you are by definition a very optimistic person,” he said.

His company did its own survey of small businesses, too. “What is different from the past is that the optimism and pessimism numbers are very close,” he said.

He said small businesses have been challenged by tariffs, increasing health care costs, and immigration operations.

Erika Tapp Duran works with owners through the Temple University Small Business Development Center. She said they’re doing okay, but “nervous.”

“They don't necessarily have deep capital reserves or access to large lines of credit,” Duran said. “So, the flow of commerce needs to be moving at a pretty good clip in order to keep operations sustainable.”

Back at Latchkey, Marc Faletti said for now, he’s leaning into used records and taking a hit on margins. 

“If I thought we were in this situation forever, where we were going to have tariffs and tumultuousness and total unpredictability, that might be a different ballgame,” Faletti said.

Instead, he quit his other full-time job in hopes that next year at the store is as strong as last one was.