Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the national economy has struggled. Locally, the effects have hit home.

"The first weekend that the attack happened, we lost all business," said Tolly Silfies, operations manager at the Super 8 Motel, 1663 S. Atherton St. "Now when people send their cancellation request, they attribute it to our nations' current events."

Silfies said, however, that few reservations for Penn State football fans are being canceled because they normally drive into town.

In addition, restaurants also are emptier than usual. Regular restaurant goers are staying in more often as a result of the tragedy, said Mary Bingham, manager of Schnitzel's Tavern, 315 High St., Bellefonte.

"We completely expected this decline in customers when the attacks hit," Bingham said.

Not only have food sales dropped, but alcohol sales at local bars waned slightly, said Hal McCullough, owner of Café 210 West, 210 W. College Ave.

"About a week to nine days ago, I saw a definite decline in business — people were just staying in for a while," McCullough said.

But like the hotel industry, restaurant sales are slowly returning.

"It's starting to come back after the initial shock of what happened," McCullough said.

John Wilson, store manager of Wal-Mart, 1665 N. Atherton Pl., watched sales reports trampoline back from their initial plummet.

"After the attack, shoppers were at home watching television and sales took a serious hit," Wilson said. "The Wisconsin game brought us back to normal."

Sales in the entertainment industry also have seen some of the same effects. Patterns of movie rentals have taken on a happier tone, according to Mike Negra, president of Mike's Video.

"I think that the first weekend especially, a lot of people needed an escape. A lot of comedies and softer material movies were rented," Negra said. "Rentals as a whole were up. People needed a two to three hour diversion from the whole situation."

As for Negra's record sales, he reasoned that the music industry's fading sales are more due to Internet downloading and CD burning than the attacks.

But he made one prediction.

"Hard-angst rock like Slipknot and Limp Bizkit is going to suffer because of sensitivity from the entertainment industry," he said. "People don't want to go get more angry than they have to."

So where is all the money going if nobody is buying anything?

"People are thinking right now on what they can do to help," said Christene Waring, director of new business development for Goodwill Industries in North Central Pennsylvania. "A lot of Goodwills across the nation have organized emergency drives for work boots, gloves and first aid kits, which are funneled to places in need."

Goodwill employees also felt the need to give more.

"All of us at Goodwill gave blood," she said.

The amount of money and blood normally funneled into the American Red Cross has skyrocketed, said Ruth Markle, community resources director for the Centre Communities chapter of the American Red Cross.

"Starting on the day of the attack, people have been bringing in money, and it has been very steady every since," Markle said. "The amount of money the Red Cross has raised for national disaster relief is phenomenal. We hope this continues."