GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich. (WPBN/WGTU) — Uncertainty is rarely a good thing in the world of business. We’ve seen its impact on Wall Street and now it’s being felt on Main Street.

The latest data suggests the current trade policies and tariff’s coming out of Washington have a lot of consumers changing their spending habits, and that’s having an impact on small business in northern Michigan.

“Visitors are still coming, it’s Traverse City, they’re gonna come, but they’re spending more cautiously,” said Traverse City business owner Karen Roofe. “They’re booking shorter stays, they’re dining out less and being more selective with their purchases.”

Roofe owns My Secret Stash and two other downtown Traverse City small businesses. She says she is seeing a trend with both locals and visitors.

Roofe says she isn’t alone.

“I speak to so many of our fellow business owners and managers and staff people downtown. Customers are simply not shopping because they’re paranoid or frightened or aware that they’re gonna lose their job or that their costs are gonna go so high that they can’t kind of afford to enjoy themselves,” said Roofe.

That’s how Karen found herself testifying in Lansing at a Senate Oversight committee hearing, where leaders were hoping to hear from those on the front lines about the real impact economic uncertainty is having.

“Data was released from the University of Michigan that shows that consumer sentiment recently plunged to the second lowest levels since the early ’50s,” said Senator Sam Singh (D-East Lansing)

Michiganders are feeling uncertain and scaling back their spending.

“We’ve had to scale back marketing, limit staffing and rethink how we operate every single day,” said Roofe.

Watch the full Senate Oversight Committee hearing below: