Lore Levi was worried as she scanned the March 1983 bank statement for the Howard Stret Jewelwes. For more than four decades, she and her husband, Julius, had owned and operated the small business. Certainly the business had experienced ups and downs before, but now it seemed to be in a downward spiral from which it could not recover. In previous times when sales had slackened, the Lavis had survived by cutting costs here and there. But now, despite several measures the Levis had taken to control costs, the business's cash position continued to steadily worsen. If a turnaround did not occur soon, Mrs.Levi feared that she and her husband might be forced to close their store.