Eight new restaurants in downtown Bend. Three new independent bookstores in Central Oregon.

What can I say?

I can just shake my head.

I really don't know what to think. I'm told I'm cynical and acidic, but I've never thought of myself that way. I'm just trying to be realistic.

Who knows? Maybe....I can't believe I'm saying this....they know something I don't. Maybe Bend's different. Maybe this little housing bubble is a blip, and easily ignored. Maybe so much new money has come to Bend, that we'll live off the fat of the land for a while.

I know there are 3000 indy bookstores in America, or roughly one per 100k. We now have 6 bookstores servicing 200k. I have no idea if 8 new restaurants are too much....but, well, it seems like overkill to me.

But what do I know?

The public accepts them. They exist. Therefore they must deserve to exist.

I've always told myself if another comic shop came to Bend, or another game store, or another card shop, etc. that they would be living under the same rules as me; rents, employees, discounts, market.

But the big danger to me would be someone who had more money than sense. Sure, in the long run, they would have to adjust to reality. But in the short run, they could really hurt. Like I said, the public just accepts that they must be viable because they exist. If a store opens with half a million dollars worth of expensive but hard to sell pop culture statues and toys, the average customer assume the product mix must sell, because -- after all -- they exist.

If they come by a year or two later, they are surprised that the store closed with padlocks from the bank on the door. They were interested, (a year later, too late to help) so the store must be viable.

Oh, well.

How can I argue with that?

I'm tired of trying to figure it out.