They market their rooms the same way Wal-Mart markets a lot of its items: low price, low margin, but make it up on volume.

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"Our menu items are pretty low in price, and we just felt like we were being killed with credit-card charges, " says Melissa Borowitz, co-owner of Hellbender Burritos in Davis, W.Va.

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The government also slapped price controls on some food items and increased subsidies for low income earnings struggling with food inflation.

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While none of the items sold by Ten Thousand Villages is a necessity, the low price point and charitable hook seems to have sheltered it from the worst of the recession.

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