By JEFF FARRELL

Staff Writer

SEVIERVILLE — Attendees at the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce’s annual breakfast Tuesday acknowledged 2009 was not the best year, but said 2010 is showing signs of a turnaround.

The chamber held the yearly event at the Sevierville Events Center; Membership Coordinator Jim McGill said the approximately 400 attendees made it one of the largest in the organization’s history.

As he started the day off, he said that Sevierville had a good year relative to many other communities across the country, but that still amounted to “flat” numbers for sales and revenues.

Dwight Grizzell, president of title sponsor Mountain National Bank, said 2009 was “not the greatest year we’ve ever had.

“We’re beginning to see some very positive economic signs,” he said.

R.B. Summitt, president of Sevier County Bank, said Sevierville and Sevier County benefits from having a number of local banks with headquarters in the community. Still, he said, this area and the nation in general will have to recover the jobs that have been lost during the recession.

“We need jobs in this country that make things we want and need in this country,” he said in a brief interview after the event.

The primary speaker for the day was Angelo Surmelis, an interior designer and television personality from HGTV.

Surmelis told chamber members to emphasize organization at their businesses and, speaking of the importance of design in business, talked about the importance of making customers feel comfortable when they visit.

That made all the difference for one business he worked with after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, he said. Anthorpologie Women’s clothes was one of the only women’s clothes stores that didn’t post a loss after the attacks, and customers later attributed that to the way they felt upon going to one of the chain stores.

“People want to feel good in your space, and they don’t know that until they don’t feel good,” he said. “They don’t know that’s what they’re feeling, but it’s so important.”

jfarrell@themountainpress.com