Orange County Register

Rachel Klemek, owner of Irvine’s Blackmarket Bakery, wanted to get her company’s name out.

Mike Maguire, of the nearby Newport Signs and Graphics, wanted to help.

They struck a deal. Maguire transformed Klemek’s black Scion xB into a mobile Blackmarket billboard. In return, Klemek gave Maguire some cookies.

No cash changed hands, though Blackmarket paid for half of the graphics.

Contemporary businesspeople, Maguire and Klemek included, have adopted a system of bartering (for some transactions, at least) to save money and gain “free” exposure for their companies. Most small businesses do it from time to time. (Click here to read Register writer Jan Norman’s story on the trend)

Klemek said bartering and other innovative throwbacks have helped Blackmarket succeed under woeful financial pressures: taxes, rent, overhead, etc.

“If you’re not growing, you’re shrinking,” she said.

And it also fit nicely with her business model for the bakery – a place of back-to-basics ingredients, made-from-scratch confections, custom-shaped cakes and punk rock aesthetics, all done up with a little tongue-in-cheek sassiness.

“… Basic economics says that when the powers that be deny us the good stuff, ‘unconventional’ markets will arise,” reads a statement posted on Blackmarket’s Web site. “Resistance is futile.”

Klemek has since broadened her bartering network to include a local salon and a food bank. And she set up “positive tabs” for Maguire and others, so they can drop in and get additional free pastries to make up the difference.

Innovation aside, does the bad economy have her spooked?

“Because we’re so diversified, I’m not freaked out at this point,” she said.

For more info on the bakery, visit www.blackmarketbakery.com or call 949-852-4609. The business is located at 17941 Sky Park Circle #E.

For more info on Newport Signs and Graphics, visit www.newportsigns.com or call 949-260-0177. The business is located at 17975 Sky Park Circle # G.

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