LITTLE ROCK – With at least one exception, Arkansas companies making products intended for upscale markets appear to be weathering the recession well.

At Batesville, Lennie Foree of Bad Boy Mowers, which makes high-end riding mowers, is upbeat. He said the company’s sales had actually grown this year.

The exceptional case is that of Ranger Boats at Flippin, which turns out 16- to 24-foot boats designed for the serious angler. Ranger Boats shut down its manufacturing operations for four weeks in June, and employs only about 65 percent of the work force that it had a year ago, according to company president Randy Hopper.

“The retail out there is off probably 25 to 30 percent for our type of items,” Hopper said.

Those types of items are beyond the reach of many fishermen. Prices of Ranger boats run from $20,000 to $65,000, Hopper said. The most expensive are high-powered 24-foot craft designed for saltwater fishing – and for getting the angler on-site fast.

At Hope, Klipsch speakers have been turned out for high-end audiophiles for 63 years, and the reputation built over that time may play a role in the company’s ability to weather the economy’s ups and downs.

“It’s a rare place in today’s world,” said Mike Klipsch, president of global operations for the Klipsch Group. “They hand-make the product.”

Klipsch said sales of some of the company’s product lines are down by single-digit percentages.

But he said the company’s sales in Asia had risen in recent months.

The company still employs the same 60-person work force now that it had a year ago, Klipsch said.

“It feels like the bottom’s been hit, so to speak, and that we’re seeing a pickup,” he said.

David Ruff, president of Morrilton Packing Co., which makes Petit Jean Meats, said the company’s sales were down slightly from two years ago, “but not enough to be a major problem.”

Petit Jean Meats is a regional brand, according to Ruff, with 90 percent of its sales in Arkansas. But brand loyalty to the company’s products within that region is strong, he said, and that’s probably helped keep sales up.

“There are a lot of people who won’t eat anything other than a Petit Jean hot dog,” he said. “We price our products to stay in business, but we’re not the most expensive out there.”

And hot dogs are only part of the company’s product line, which includes a complete turkey dinner for $60 and a complete ham dinner for $65, according to the Petit Jean Web site.

Sales have been “pretty much flat – and I think that’s good,” Ruff said. “We’re right even with last year’s sales.”

Ruff said he would be looking at sales leading up to the end-of-year holidays as an indicator of how much, if at all, the economy has improved.

“We do a lot of business in the holidays,” he said.