Trestina Betters sells a ring at Providence Pawn on Main Street in Providence. John Zuluaga examines the ring before making her an offer.

The Providence Journal John Freidah

The repo man has been busy.

In three weeks time, Mark and Christine Labbe took back 15 Mercedes Benzes through their Lincoln repossession service, Preferred Recovery and Towing.

There was the large Snap-on tool truck, which, with all the products still in it, was probably worth close to a quarter million dollars, Mark ventured, and the $14,000 espresso machine from the doughnut shop, which had fallen behind.

Business has been so good that the company just bought another brand new $85,000 truck to add to its already formidable array of stealth-black wreckers, flatbeds and tractors.

“We have a warehouse full of [repossessed] vehicles,” says Mark Labbe. “You name it — SUVs, Harleys, snowmobiles. And they’re from all over. It’s been pretty strange out there. It just shows that every sector of society is feeling the hurt.”

By all indications, business is bad. The auto industry is hoping for a bailout, the real estate market went bust, the stock market has been in freefall, and the state’s unemployment rate, at 9.3 percent last month, was tied with Michigan as the highest in the country.

But even in the darkest times, there is still a buck to me made.

As the Labbes demonstrate, there are Rhode Island enterprises doing brisk business, despite the dour mood pervading much of the country. Some, like the Labbes’ towing and recovery service, thrive as a result of the economic downturn — others, in spite of it.

“It’s sad to say, but what’s happening with the economy is unfortunate for some people, but fortunate for us,” says Christine Labbe.

THE LABBES’ towing business falls into a category of companies that deal with debt, either helping people get out from under or helping companies recoup their losses.

Debt collectors come in various forms, including law firms, investigative services and businesses like Preferred Recovery.

Providence lawyer Linda Laing is a partner in Strauss, Factor, Laing, & Lyons. She deals in debt collection (she calls it “creditors’ rights”) and bankruptcy law.

Laing says the firm has seen a marked increase in inquires from businesses looking to take customers to court for defaulting on a loan or missing a scheduled payment. The businesses range from major credit-card companies to local heating-oil companies and colleges and universities.

Often, Laing must remind her clients to weigh the costs of filing a suit with the value of the debt, she says.

“The bulk of the increase in inquiries is coming from landlords, and that’s tied to the housing crisis and delinquent rents,” she says. “And those cases we don’t always accept because the money is hard to get to. You can’t get money when the people you’re going after don’t have any money.”

On the other side are the credit counselors — those who help people deal with their debt.

Ronald M. Ramos, senior director at Money Management International, in Warwick, says his company has seen a 15-percent increase in people enrolling in its debt-management plan over the last three months.

The company, a branch of the largest nonprofit credit counseling organization in the nation, offers free, over-the-phone counseling 24/7. The debt-management program, which is tailored to each person, is not free.

Who’s reaching out to the credit counselors? Close to half are homeowners, according to Ramos. They have incomes ranging from $20,000 to $80,000 and are between 25 years and 64 years old. More than two-thirds are women. Men tend not to face up to problems as soon as women, he says.

Ramos says the biggest challenges their clients face are job loss, other loss of income, and excessive, unsecured credit.

“The average person coming to us has six credit cards and $21,000 of debt,” he says. “They are struggling to make mortgage payments and resorting to credit cards. It’s a cause-and-effect scenario.”

THE HOUSING crisis has created its own side economy, with companies seeing their focus shift because of the high number of foreclosures.

Real estate agents who might have showed off the newest million-dollar condo development just a few years ago are now giving walk-throughs of foreclosed properties.

Storage warehouses have seen a slight increase in demand in part because some people need to store their stuff when they get evicted. Locksmiths say they’re seeing more jobs from foreclosed properties, changing locks when banks take over a house. The list goes on.

Glenn A. Carlson, a lawyer in East Greenwich, used to specialize almost exclusively in real estate closings. But now, he deals with foreclosure and bankruptcy avoidance and mortgage modification negotiation, working on behalf of homeowners seeking lower mortgage payments.

“Sixteen years ago, when I started this practice, I never did any of this type of law,” says Carlson. “Now I’m dealing with at least one [mortgage modification negotiation] a day.”

But the new work isn’t enough to fully balance his books. “Volume is way down across the board,” he says.

A FACT NOT lost on most business observers is that even when things are rough, people still have to buy the basics. Discount stores have reaped the benefits as people try to save on the essentials, making do with less-than-fancy brands.

Which helps explains why German discount grocer ALDI made its first forays into Rhode Island this year with three stores (and another in the works in Providence’s Smith Hill neighborhood) and big-box chains like Wal-Mart are still churning out double-digit profits while shares of most companies have plunged.

There’s been such a marked move away from consumerism and expensive tastes that media outlets from Business Week to The Wall Street Journal have been quick to claim a “new frugality” pervading the national consciousness, as if penny pinching could be considered a fad.

Savers, a thrift store chain that buys items donated to nonprofits like Big Brothers/Big Sisters, this year opened a store in Woonsocket — the company’s third in the state. Lynne Mitchell, the store’s assistant operations supervisor, says it has already turned a profit.

“As of October, we’re in the black. That was a big deal for us,” she says.

The store, which has the brightly lit, sterile quality of an off-price retailer such as Marshalls or T.J. Maxx, is in a low-income city, which is home to a number of discounters, including an Ocean State Job Lot next door. But Mitchell says Savers draws shoppers from Cumberland, Lincoln and nearby towns in Massachusetts, comparatively more affluent communities.

On bigger ticket items such as cars and larger appliances, Rhode Islanders are, for now, making do with what they have, some business owners say. It’s a problem for car dealers and new appliance retailers, but great for mechanics and repairmen.

“People aren’t trying to replace the more expensive items. If it costs $1,000 to buy new, they’re choosing the $200 repair,” says Dave Roy, a salesman at JA Appliance Sales and Service, an appliance retail and repair store in Cumberland. “Sales have been spotty, but we’re doing OK…. People still need appliances.”

FOR PAWNSHOPS, business is brisker because of the economy — but that hasn’t translated into more revenue. Not yet anyway.

At Easy Money Pawnbrokers in the Olneyville section of Providence, people are bringing in construction tools and seasonal items like bicycles and air conditioners as collateral for loans, says owner Michael Montella.

Normally if people are unable to make good on the loans, the pawnshop sells the items. The only problem has been that people are not buying, and probably won’t be until spring, Montella says.

“When the economy’s bad, we loan out money.”

pmarcelo@projo.com