MOUNT DORA - Melanie Vance said it's hard enough owning a wine shop in Lake County through the spring and summer, when the snowbirds have left and taken their discretionary income with them. But in this economy?

"I'm personally scared," Vance said. "Everybody's worried, so everybody's holding onto their money. A wine shop is kind of a luxury."

Like many Lake County businesses, The Wine Depository has a steady flow of customers who spend money regardless of the season. But with the nation's economy grinding, the springtime exodus of snowbirds makes getting by more difficult than usual.

"It's always a pinch," said Sean Snaith, director of the Institute for Economic Competitiveness at the University of Central Florida. "But the pain, I think, is a little greater because the spot we're getting pinched on is already tender. We've already got a bruise from the economic recession."

For Vance, the bruise is a double whammy of higher expenses and lower revenue.

"Gas prices have gone up," she said. "The price of wine has gone up. We're being charged a delivery tax because they're compensating for gas prices."

Meanwhile, some sippers are holding back.

"People are upset," Vance said. "They're not spending because they're losing their homes. They're not driving to go out and do things, either."

Snaith said the state of the economy promises to challenge Central Florida's small businesses when summer rolls along. Lake, with its huge population of seniors and retirees, is one area that stands to lose economically.

"We live for the snowbirds," said Sharon Whitmore, who owns the Soup to Nuts Diner in Tavares with her husband, Todd. "When Easter comes, they go. When Halloween comes, they're back."

Whitmore said that although she has a solid group of year-round customers, Soup to Nuts normally sees a drop of about 35 percent from the peak of winter to the trough of summer, when many of the 1 million or so snowbirds who flow into Florida for the winter have gone home. The Whitmores have come to expect -- and cope with -- the ups and downs during the six years they've owned the place.

Dennis Wilson knows the cycle well. Wilson, who owns the Banana Cove Marina & RV Park in Tavares, said 11 of his 16 lots are already empty. In winter, he keeps a waiting list of snowbirds who are looking for places to park their campers, he said.

"Wintertime is where I make the money," Wilson said. "You've gotta budget yourself."

A few years after he bought the park in 1988, Wilson opened a bar on the property to boost his income. He also sells live bait, mostly to people who keep their boats on slips in his Lake Harris marina.

Recently, he extended the bar's hours into the evening for one day a week to draw customers from around the area. He normally serves beer to people who've spent a long day out boating. Now, he said, he hopes he can make it a Wednesday-night hangout for other locals as well.

Missouri residents Burton and Linda Paul, who spent the winter at Wilson's park, said more than 50 other snowbirds they know from the Show Me State headed back north after Easter.

"We're the last couple of all of them that we know that's still here -- and we'll probably be leaving [today]," said Burton Paul, 64.

Paul said he and his wife spent about $7,500 at local businesses during the winter -- including about $1,200 a month dining.

"We may eat out twice a day," Paul said.

Getting back home won't be cheap. Paul said he spent about $350 on fuel to drive his pickup and camper from the St. Louis area to Florida.

Wilson said he worries about how campers will overcome gas prices and other factors against them in a worsening economy. He's bracing for the summer.

"It's gonna be tough here," Wilson said. "We'll struggle -- we'll make it."

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