When the economy begins to take a turn downward, be it in recession or depression form, businesses and families alike may be left with a tight budget. However, it’s the industries that thrive during economic dips that can help teach us how to survive as well – here’s what we can learn from them.

The economy moves through phases of ups and downs. Both the Great Depression and more recent Great Recession resulted from economic downturns, yet some businesses and even entire industries remained largely unaffected by the abysmal outlook. Why? Purchases of alcohol, tobacco, candy, even cosmetic items all stay fairly steady through the economic cycle and in fact the sale of alcoholic beverages actually increased during the last recession by $2 billion and during the Great Recession itself, cosmetic sales outperformed the market at whole by 45%. So obviously, vices are a given; of course, we will always have room in the budget for a candy bar here and a tube of lipstick there but these aren’t the only businesses that make it through economic lows.

Funerary services will always be in demand, as will retail, healthcare, and even luxury goods no matter the state of the economy. See this infographic for more on a deeper look into their economic survival, what other businesses can learn from them, and how to be ready for another inevitable recession.